LIBRARY
«
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
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Ill
THE DIAMOND MINES OF
SOUTH AFRICA
VOL. I
THE DIAMOND MINES OF
SOUTH AFRICA
WILL]
PORTRAIT OF GARDNER F. WILLIAMS.
THE DIAMOND MINES OF
SOUTH AFRICA
BY
GARDNER F. WILLIAMS, M.A.
GENERAL MANAGER OF DE BEERS CONSOLIDATED MINES, LTD.
ILLUSTRATED
VOL. I
NEW YORK
B. F. BUCK & COMPANY
1 60 FIFTH AVENUE
1905
COPYRIGHT, 1902,
BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
COPYRIGHT,' 1904,
BY GARDNER F. WILLIAMS.
Norwood Press
J. S. Gushing & Co. — Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
PREFACE
THE original edition of my work was submitted to the judg-
ment of the public without preface, for I must agree with the
view of Thomas Hughes, that a preface is unnecessary if an
author is content to have his aim read in what he has written.
I do not depart from this view now in desiring to acknowledge
the very kindly appreciation accorded to the first edition by the
representative critics of the press and by the public, and my
particular indebtedness to the many friends who have taken
pains to furnish me with desired information and valuable
illustrations.
I may further note simply that the edition now offered has
been thoroughly revised, enlarged, and brought up to date, with
the addition of a number of new and interesting illustrations.
GARDNER F. WILLIAMS.
KIMBERLEV, SOUTH AFRICA, AUGUST, 1904.
9628 /
Contents
VOLUME I
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE ANCIENT ADAMAS ....... i
Physical Characteristics of the Diamond. The Early History of
Diamonds. Mining in India. Golconda. Romance of Noted
Diamonds.
II. THE TRADITIONAL OPHIR LAND . . . . . .32
The Search for an All-sea Route to India. The Queen of Sheba.
King Solomon's Mines. Phoenicians sail around Africa, 600 B.C.
Bartholomeu Dias sets Crosses at Angra Pequena and Algoa Bay,
A.D. 1486. Da Gama's Voyage. Encounters with Natives.
The Mines of Ophir. The Ancient Ruins of Mashonaland.
English and Dutch East India Companies. The Landing of Johan
van Riebeeck. The Settlement of the Cape by the Dutch. The
Search for the Land of Ophir by the Early Cape Settlers. Com-
mander Simon van der Stel. Discovery of Copper in Namaqua-
land. The British enter Table Bay and take Possession of Cape
Town.
III. THE PIONEER ADVANCE ....... 87
Cape Colony. The Dutch Settlers. Emancipation of the Slaves.
The Great Trek of the Dutch to the Interior. The Zulus.
Chaka. The Matabele. Tribal Wars. The Clash between the
Boers and the Matabele. Boers and Zulus. The South African
Republic. The Orange Free State.
IV. THE DISCOVERY . . . . . . . .114
The First South African Diamond. Its Journey to Grahamstown.
Its Determination. " The Star of South Africa." The Mission
Stations. The First Mining on the Vaal River. The Influx of
Fortune-hunters. The Natives as Labourers. Obstacles, Priva-
tions, and Discomforts at the River Diggings. The Great Karroo.
The Mirages. The Journey to the Fields. Game along the
Route. Klip-drift and Pniel.
vii
viii CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
V. THE CAMPS ON THE VAAL . . . . . . .140
Method of mining Diamonds in Brazil. Early Mining at Klip-
drift and Pniel. Camp Life on the River. The Climate. Title
to the Land along the River. Claims of the South African Repub-
lic and the Orange Free State. The Diggers' Republic.
VI. THE RUSH TO KIMBERLEY . . . . . . .164
Discovery of Jagersfontein Mine, August, 1870. Diamonds found
at Dutoitspan, September, 1870. The Competition for Posses-
sion of the Farm Dorstfontein. Original Occupation of Farms.
Discovery of Bultfontein Mine early in 1871. De Beers Mine
discovered, May, 1871. Kimberley Mine discovered, July, 1871,
by Fleetvvood Ravvstorne. Native Ownership of Country trans-
ferred to Great Britain. Arbitration re Ownership. The Procla-
mation of District as the «' Crown Colony of Griqualand West."
Stephen J. Paul Kruger. Lieutenant-Governor Mr. Richard
Southey. Methods of reaching the Fields. The Rush of Whites
and Blacks to the New Golconda.
VII. THE GREAT WHITE CAMPS. . . . . . .190
The City of the Pan. Early Life in Kimberley. The London
and South African Exploration Company. Area covered by the
Four Mines. Method of working Kimberley Mine. The Bottom
of the Yellow Ground is reached. The Blue Ground. Charac-
teristics of Diamonds in Each Mine. Cost of Supplies. The
Market. The Climate. The Marvellous Collection of Savages.
VIII. OPENING THE CRATERS . . . . . . .220
Areas of the Open Mine Surfaces in 1888. The Progress of
Mining. Hauling Ground in Raw-hide Buckets by Means of
Windlasses. The First Whim. The Introduction of Aerial
Gears and Trucks. The Falls of Reef into the Open Mines.
The Flooding of the Mines, May, 1874. Shafts sunk in the
Open Mine (Kimberley). Shafts sunk outside the Areas of the
Mines. The Extraction of Diamonds from the Yellow and Blue
Ground. Hand Machines. Horse-power Machines. Steam
Washing Gears. Diamond Stealing and Illicit Diamond Buying.
IX. THE MOVING MEN 267
Barney Barnato. Cecil John Rhodes. The Race for Supremacy
— De Beers versus Kimberley Mine. The Combinations of
Claims. Rhodes' Plans for acquiring Territory in the Interior of
Africa. How Amalgamation of the Mines was brought about.
Mr. Alfred Beit joins Rhodes.
CONTENTS ix
CHAPTER PAGE
X. THE ESSENTIAL COMBINATION . . . . . .297
The Formation of De Beers Consolidated Mines, Limited. The
Cost of Properties. The Improved Output of Diamond-bearing
Ground. The Reconstruction of the Company, 1901.
XI. SYSTEMATIC MINING ........ 307
Failure of First Methods of Underground Mining. The Various
Systems. Incline Shafts. Vertical Shafts. The Present System
of Mining. Winding Shafts. Skips. Record Hoisting. Drain-
ing. Lighting the Mines. Electrical Equipment. Temperatures
Underground. Output of Blue Ground, Labor and Wages.
Dutoitspan and Bultfontein Mines. Premier Mine. Jagersfontein
Mine. (See Appendix IX for description of new mines.)
Illustrations
VOLUME I
PAGE
The Koh-i-nur (Old Cutting) i
Diamonds Photographed with the Roentgen Rays. I . A Black Diamond in
Gold Setting. 2. Ordinary Window Glass. 3. A Pink Diamond . 2
The Shah 3
The Egyptian Pascha ......... 4
The Polar Star 8
The Hope Blue 8
The Empress Eugenie . . . . . . . . .15
The Nassak 1 6
The Great Mogul 17
The Sancy . . . . . . . . . . .25
The Koh-i-nur (Present Cutting) . . . . . . .27
The Orloff 28
The Regent ........... 29
The Florentine .......... 30
The Piggott ........... 30
The Star of the South ......... 30
Cube Diamond . . . . . . . . . .31
Dutch Ships of the Seventeenth Century . . . . .41, 42, 43
Dutch Ships of the Eighteenth Century ..... 40, 44, 45
Insiza Ruins .......... 48, 49, 50
Khami Ruins 51, 52, 53, 54
Gold Ornaments found in Ancient Ruins . . . . . .52
Zimbabwe Ruins 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60
The Old East India House, Leadenhall Street, London . . . .61
The Landing of Van Riebeeck . . . . . . . .62
Portrait of Johan Antonyse van Riebeeck . . . . . .63
Portrait of Maria de la Querellerie . . . . . . .63
Wine Cellar, Groot Constantia ........ 64
Vergelegen ........... 69
Boschendal 71, 72
Entrance to Boschendal . . . . . . . . .72
Botanic Gardens . . . . . . . . . 73
zi
xii ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Lekkerwijn ........... 74
Bien Donne, Drakenstein ........ 75» 7^
Overmantel and Old Dutch Relics . . . . . . -75
Farm House, Klein Drakenstein . . . . . . . -77
Palmeit Vallei 77, 80
A Wine Farm at Klein Drakenstein . . . . . . .78
Dutch Farm House .......... 79
Muller's Farm, Achter Paarl 78, 79, 80
Mooi Kelder, Lower Paarl . . . . . . . .81
Plaisis de Merle, Groot Drakenstein . . . . . . .81
Donkerhoek, Groot Drakenstein . . . . . . . .82
A Wine Cellar. Herd of Cape Goats . . . . . .82
Tatr, 1757 83
An Old Farm House, Lower Paarl ....... 84
Farm House, Achter Paarl ........ 84
Brand Solder 85
Cape Cart . . . . 85, 276
The Gate of the Castle 86
Fort Good Hope .......... 86
Zulu Chief Cetawayo and Part of his Family ..... 92
Zulu Prince Dinizulu ......... 93
Zulu Family ........... 93
A Zulu and his Ten Wives ........ 94
Zulu Kraal and Huts . . . . . . . . -95
Zulu Hut in course of Construction ....... 96
Zulu Woman grinding Corn ........ 97
Zulu Women .......... 98
Zulus smoking Indian Hemp ........ 99
Old Zulu Women taking Kafir Beer to a Wedding .... 99
Zulu Girls 100
Native Laborers in War Dress . . . . . . . . IOI
Trekbok (Springbok) Hunting . . . . . . . .102
Zulu in War Dress . . . . . . . . . .103
Zulu — Jim Cameel . . . . . . . . .105
A Zulu Laborer in War Attire . . . . . . . .108
Nest of Social Grosbeak . . . . . . . . .112
Native Carvings ......... 112-113
Moshesh . . I 1 3
John O' Reilly 1 20
Mr. Lorenzo Boyes . . . . . . . . .121
Dr. W. Guybon Atherstone 121
ILLUSTRATIONS xiii
Pniel Diggings 139
Delport's Hope, Vaal River Diggings . . . . . . .142
Diggers' Camps on the Vaal River . . . . . . .143
River Diggings at Gong Gong, 1880 . . . . . . .147
Vaal River Diggings . . . . . . . . .149
River Diggings, Waldek's Plant 151
Pniel Diggings, Vaal River . . . . . . . .152
Klip-drift, Early River Diggings 152
Gong Gong . . . . . . . . . . • r 5 3
Washing Diamond Gravel by Machinery at Gong Gong, 1880 . . 155
Lightning at Kimberley . . . . . . . . .156
Day View, Same Scene . . . . . . . . .156
Largest River Diamond ever found in South Africa. . . . .158
Views of Klip-drift . .162
Klip- drift from Pniel, showing the Ferry .... between 162-163
A Digger's Camp, New Rush ...... between 168—169
Main Street, New Rush, January, 1872 .... between 168-169
Kimberley, 1872 . . . . . . . . .169
Mrs. Ravvstorne . . . . . . . . . .173
Mr. T. B. Kisch . . . 174
Kimberley Mine just after the Discovery, July, 1871 . . . 175, 176
Fleetwood Rawstorne . . . . . . . . .177
Native Chiefs . . . . . . . . . .179
The First Government House of the Colony of Griqualand West . .180
Sir Richard Southey's Residence, Kimberley. . . . . .181
Stephen J. Paul Kruger . . . . . . . . .185
Coach leaving Kimberley for the Coast, 1875 . . . . .187
Kimberley, before the Discovery of Diamonds . . . . . 1 90
Dutoitspan . . . 191, 192
Kimberley, 1873 J93
Around Kimberley Mine, 1872 . . . . . . 194-195
Kimberley Mine, 1872 197, 203, 205
Beginning of Staging, Colesberg Kopje, August, 1872 . . between 198-199
Back View from North Stagings, Colesberg Kopje . . between 198-199
Centre Block, Kimberley Mine, 1873 . . . . . 200
The Roadways, Kimberley Mine, 1871-1872 202
Roads in Kimberley Mine, 1871-1872 204,207
Market Square, Kimberley . . . . . . .211, 212
Natives resting, on their Way to the Mines . . . . . .217
Herbert Rhodes 219
The Breaking up of the Roads, Kimberley Mine, 1872 . . . .221
xiv ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Miners going to Work ......... 222
Interior of" Old De Beers Mine, 1873 • ... between 222-223
The Hand Drums used for Winding-up the Blue Ground . . .223
De Beers Mine, 1874 . . . . . . .223
Kimberley Mine, 1873 ......... 224
Interior of Mine with Tramway, Colesberg Kopje, September, 1873
between 224-225
View from Bottom of Kimberley Mine, September, 1873 . between 224—225
Kimberley Mine, 1874 . . . . . . . . .225
Kimberley Mine, 1875 ......... 225
Natives carrying Ground out of Dutoitspan in Buckets .... 226
Back View of the Staging with Grooved Wheels, at Kimberley . . .226
Kimberley Mine, 1875 . . . . . . . . 227
Snow in Kimberley Mine, June 21, 1876 ...... 228
Method of Hauling, De Beers Mine, 1873 ...... 228
The First Horse Whim, Kimberley Mine, 1874 ..... 229
Hauling Gear and Jumpers, Kimberley Mine, 1878 . . . .229
A Nook in Kimberley Mine, 1874 ....... 230
A Section of De Beers Mine, 1874 ..... between 230—231
The Horse Whims, Kimberley Mine, 1875 . . . . . .231
Hauling Gear, Dutoitspan Mine, 1876 . .... 232
Surface Loading Boxes . . . . . . . . .233
Aerial Trams and Surface Chutes, De Beers Mine, 1885 . . .233
Hauling Gear, Kimberley Mine, 1885 ...... 234
The French Company's Sling Gear, 1885. . . . . .235
Loading Tubs at Bottom of Kimberley Mine, 1885 .... 236
The Standard Company's Claim, Bottom of Kimberley Mine, 1885 . . 237
Bottom of Dutoitspan Mine Open Workings. . . . . .238
Pumping Engine in Kimberley Mine, 1875 ...... 239
Incline Tramway for Hauling Reef, 1878 ...... 240
Hauling Reef, Kimberley Mine, 1875 ...... 241
Reef Falls, Kimberley Mine, 1881 . . . . . . . 242
Steam Pumping Engine, De Beers Mine, 1879 ..... 243
The Central Company's Shaft, Kimberley Mine, 1885 .... 244
The Bottom of Kimberley Mine, 1885 ...... 245
Plan of Kimberley Mine, 1883. . . . . . . . 246
Reef Slips, Kimberley Mine, 1874 ....... 247
Kimberley Mine, showing how the Ground cracked before Subsidence . 247
The Central Company's Atkins Shaft ....... 248
The Last of Open Working, Kimberley Mine, 1889 . 249
R. D. Atkins . . . . . . . . . .250
ILLUSTRATIONS xv
PAGE
No. 2 Incline Shaft, De Beers Mine . . . . . . .251
Eldorado Road, Dutoitspan Mine, 1874 . . . . . .251
Claims in Dutoitspan Mine . . . . . . . .252
Bultfontein Mine, 1879 ......... 253
The First Rotary Washing Machine . . . . . . .254
Another Early Washing Machine, 1874 . . . . . -255
Horse-power Washing Machine, 1875 . . . . . .255
Early Horse-power Washing Machine, 1874 ..... 256
The First Washing Machine with Elevator to carry away the Tailings . 257
Washing Gear, Bultfontein Mine . . . . . . .258
Steam Washing Gear, Kimberley Mine . . . . . .259
Webb's Washing Machine, 1878 ....... 260
Cape of Good Hope Company's Washing Gear, 1878 .... 261
Washing Gear, Dutoitspan Mine ....... 262
Washing Gear, Bultfontein Mine, 1878 ...... 263
Mr. Barney Barnato ......... 268
C. J. Rhodes, when a Student at Oxford ...... 272
Sorting the Ground for Diamonds ..... between 274—275
J. Dick-Lauder's Camp, 1872 . . . . . . between 274—275
Silver Trees ........... 275
Mr. C. D. Rudd 279
Mr. Robert English . . . . . . . . .279
Plan of Kimberley Mine, 1882 282
House of Parliament, Cape Town . . . . . . .284
Avenue of Oaks, Cape Town . . . . . . . .285
Mr. Carl Meyer 287
Mr. Alfred Beit 289
The Diamond Market, Kimberley, 1875 . • • • • • 29°
The Right Honorable Cecil John Rhodes, and Alfred Beit, Esq., October,
1901 ........... 292
Fac-simile of Cheque given in Payment for Kimberley Mine . . . 295
A De Beers Group .......... 300
Group of Life Governors, Directors, General Manager, and Secretary,
De Beers Mine ......... 303
Mr. E. R. Tymms .306
The Last of Open Mining, Kimberley Mine ..... 308
Plan of De Beers Mine ....... 309, 316, 318
Section through De Beers Mine . . -. . . . . 3 1 o, 3 1 1
Plan of Kimberley Mine . . . . . . . . .312
Kimberley Open Mine, looking South, January, 1 904 . . between 3 1 2—3 1 3
Kimberley Open Mine, looking South, January, 1904 . . between 312-313
xvi ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Section of Kimberley Mine . . . . . . . 3 1 3
Kimberley Open Mine, looking South, January, 1904 . . between 314-315
Bottom of Kimberley Mine, January, 1904 . . . between 314-315
Sketch of Premier Mine . 318
Stoping ... . . .. 319, 320
Timbering Tunnels . . . . . • • . .321, 322
Natives drilling, De Beers Mine . . . . . . . .322
Details of Sets for Rock Shaft 323
A Shaft Station . . . . . . . . . .324
Loading the Trucks . . . . . . . . . • 325
Loading Chutes for Rock Shaft . . . . . . . .326
Plan of Skip for Six Loads . . . . . . . .327
Main Shaft, Kimberiey Mine . 328
The Rock Shaft, De Beers Mine 329
Vertical Tandem Compound-condensing Winding Engines . . 330* 33 1
Winding Engine, Kimberley Mine . . . . . . .332
Mr. Louis I. Seymour . . . . . . . . .332
Plan of Bultfontein Mine . . . . . . . . -333
Dutoitspan Open Mine Flooded, April, 1903 . . . between 334-335
Kimberley Open Mine, looking North, January, 1904 . . between 338—339
Mount Ararat before Blasting ........ 342
Dutoitspan Mine, 1885 . . . . . . . between 242—243
Shots fired ........... 343
A Second after Firing . . . . . . . . .344
The Mine filled with Smoke ........ 345
After the Smoke has cleared away . . . . . . .346
Premier Mine, Open Workings ........ 348
Premier Mine Shaft ........ between 348-349
Premier Mine ........ 350, 351, 353
Premier Mine, 1903 . . . . . . . between 354—355
One of the Early Washing Machines . . . . . . .354
Washing Plant, Standard Company, Kimberley Mine, 1888 . . . 355
No. I Washing Plant, De Beers Floors . . . . . .356
No. 2 Washing Plant, De Beers Floors ..... 357, 370
Excelsior Diamond . . . . . . . . 35 8, 359
Plan and Section, Jagersfontein Mine ..... between 358—359
ILLUSTRATIONS
xvn
MAPS
Waldseemuller's Map of Africa, A.D. 1507 .
Visscher's Map of Africa, 1662, reproduced by Blaeuw
Visscher's Map of Africa, published A.D. 1662
Blaeuw's Map of Africa, published 1665
Outline Copy of the Catalan Mappermonde, 1375
Outline Copy of the Map of Portolano Laurenziano, 1351
Edrisi's Map, A.D. 1154
Andrea Bianco' s Map, A.D. 1436, Venice .
Africa de Mappermonde, Juan de la Cosa, I 500
Chart showing Method of Surveying Coast Lines .
Map showing Position of Ancient Ruins in Rhodesia .
Kimberley Mine, 1877 .
General Plan of the Diamond Mines owned by De Beers
PAGE
between 32—33,
33
34
between 34—35
36-37
. 38
between 38—39
between 38-39
39
. . 46
• 47
between 276—277
between 316-317
PHOTOGRAVURES
Portrait of Gardner F. Williams .....
Farmhouse on the Farm Groot Constantia, near Cape Town
La Rhone, Groot Drakenstein )
Old Le Roux . . )
A View from the Kloof Road leading from the Upper Part of Cape Town .
Zulu in War Attire
The Homestead of the Farm Vooruitzigt on which are De Beers and Kim-
berley Mines ..........
Portrait of Sir Richard Southey ........
Natives seeking Work .........
Kimberley Mine, 1872.. . . . . .
Kimberley Mine flooded, May, 1874
Kimberley Mine, 1886 .........
Bultfontein Mine, 1878 .........
Portrait of Cecil John Rhodes ........
Barnato's Turnout ..........
A Group of De Beers Directors, etc. , etc. ......
Premier Mine, looking from Workings up through Incline where the Blue
Ground is hauled .........
Premier Mine
FACING PAGE
Frontispiece
. 64
82
86
94
172
1 80
188
196
240
246
252
272
296
298
344
352
-*:-"
5?
-rue
UNIVERSITY
The Diamond Mines of South Africa
.<. i
^DAMAS
[T the beginning of the last century, w!
blinded Shah-Shuja sought refuge in f
of the " Lion of the Punjaub," Runjec
his chief treasure was the crystal r<-
Nadir Shah had snatched from the
last of the Great Moguls.
For the sake of the pebble, Runjeet starved r and
children of his friend until he was driven to <h-i-nur
at the feet of his host. " At what
price do you value it ? " said the
Lion, showing his teeth in a grim
smile.
"At good luck," replied the
blind Shah, "for it has eve.
the bosom companion of him v
numphed over his eneni
It may have been the tradi-
tional talisman of Carna, Rajah We!ght before
of Anga, fighting in legendary ^-sght^er first cutting, i86t canus ;
present weight, 106 carats.
wars, hundreds of years before the great Achilles st
sulked under the walls of Troy.1
appearance it had been so coveted
Indian History," J. Talboys
the government of India in the Foreign Departmei
Great Diamonds of the World," Edwin W. Streeter.
UNIVERSITY
i
•
The Diamond Mines of South Africa
CHAPTER I
THE ANCIENT ADAMAS
T the beginning of the last century, when the
blinded Shah-Shuja sought refuge in the lair
of the " Lion of the Punjaub," Runjeet Singh,
his chief treasure was the crystal pebble which
Nadir Shah had snatched from the head of the
last of the Great Moguls.
For the sake of the pebble, Runjeet starved the wife and
children of his friend until he was driven to lay the Koh-i-nur
at the feet of his host. " At what
price do you value it ? " said the
Lion, showing his teeth in a grim
smile.
"At good luck," replied the
blind Shah, " for it has ever been
the bosom companion of him who
has triumphed over his enemies."
It may have been the tradi-
tional talisman of Carna, Rajah
of Anga, fighting in legendary The Koh-i-nfir. (Old Cutting.)
wars, hundreds of years before the great Achilles stormed and
sulked under the walls of Troy.1 From its earliest known
appearance it had been so coveted that agas and sultans and
1 "Tales from Indian History," ]. Talboys Wheeler, assistant secretary of
the government of India in the Foreign Department, Calcutta, 1 88 1 ; "The
Great Diamonds of the World," Edwin W. Streeter.
THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
.
rajahs and shahs had snatched it in the first spoils of victory,
or tried to extort it by starvation or blinding or boiling oil or
some other device of torture ; and the adventurous and blood-
stained career of this famous diamond is only one of many like
passages, for every precious
stone of renown has a trail
like a meteor. Some have
gleamed weirdly in the eye-
sockets of idols in Indian
temples or flashed from
the splendid thrones of
emperors, or glittered in
golden basins amid gems
of every hue heaped up in
tribute, or sparkled on the
crests of warriors, the tur-
bans of rajahs, the breasts
of begums, and the san-
dals of courtesans. To
win them temples have been profaned, palaces looted, thrones
torn to fragments, princes tortured, women strangled, guests
poisoned by their hosts, and slaves disembowelled. Some have
fallen on battlefields, to be picked up by ignorant freebooters
and sold for a few silver coins, and others have been cast into
ditches by thieves or swallowed by guards, or sunk in ship-
wrecks, or broken to powder in moments of frenzy. No strain
of fancy in an Arabian tale has outstripped the marvels of fact
in the diamond's history.
Among all the stones that our world's fancy holds precious,
the diamond stands preeminent. It is pure crystallized carbon.
It crystallizes in almost all the forms of the isometric system,
commonly the octahedral or dodecahedral, and frequently with
curved faces.1 Two pyramids with triangular sides and a
i. A Black Diamond in Gold Setting. 2. Ordinary
Window Glass. 3. A Pink Diamond. (Photo-
graphed with the Roentgen Rays.)
1 The South African diamonds differ in appearance from those found in India
or Brazil. They are brighter, and for the most part without any incrustation, and
•KNT ADAMAS
common base make uj ahedron. The dodecahedron has
twelve rhombs or natur lozenge shape.
It is the most impel
edge of one of its •
or the hardest steel. 1
It refracts entering ray:
stance except crocoite,
tints, but it
persion are
t all known substances, for the
itch the face of any other stone
most perfect reflector of light.
•ian any other translucent sub-
Chrysolite alone
:ht into rainbow
ion, and dis-
color in its
crystalline hearr flashing int fire.
It may be a and col lew, or
.iry colors, such as red, ow,
• ; so that, as John Mandeville qua;
. to take pleasure in assuming in turn the i.
to other ger It is highly phosphorescent. Even the
of diamonds are transparent to the X-rays. No acid will
no solvent will dissolve it. Its brilliance is undecaying, a
might roll by without rubbing the minutest partic!
mantine face. The diamond that gleamed fire
in an idol's eye before the rising of the be
sparkling to-day with more dazzling
radiance in the crown of an emperor.
Koh-i-nur and Darya-i-nur and
e-mah and Regent and OrlofV
.nd Shah will shine n<
vere
cm shall be
Present weight, 05 carats.
any, are visible in their natura
Dufrc /
)r
A* RICA
in tne nr-> spons of victory,
MI or blinding or boiling oil or
and the adventurous and blood-
Lliamond s only one of many like
passages, for every precious
stone of renown has a trail
like a meteor. Some have
gleamed weirdly in the eye-
sockets of idols in Indian
temples or flashed from
rhe splendid thrones of
iprrors, or glittered in
basins amid gems
Hie heaped up in
sparkled on the
vrtors, the tur-
b;i> jhs, rhv? breasts
lit VK! the san-
dals -urte-sans. To
led, pahucs looted, throi\es
, women strangled, guests
isembowe'led. Some have
Lip S> iancrant freebooters
nthi"^ nav? been cast into
euar,,L, nr sunk in ship-
No strain
,. ••,: -he marvels ot fact
. holds precious,
* "fallr/ed carbon.
I the isometric system,
ai, :iru{ frequently with
•lanLrula" sides and a
ci- tier.: :li',~e fnunci ii* India
vviihi ••': ;unr incTii^riii(^n, and
i a ?, a v * n u
THE ANCIENT ADAMAS 3
common base make up the octahedron. The dodecahedron has
twelve rhombs or natural facets of lozenge shape.
It is the most impenetrable of all known substances, for the
edge of one of its facets will scratch the face of any other stone
or the hardest steel. It is the most perfect reflector of light.
It refracts entering rays more than any other translucent sub-
stance except crocoite, the chromate of lead.1 Chrysolite alone
exceeds its dispersive power to dissolve white light into rainbow
tints, but its combined powers of reflection, refraction, and dis-
persion are unmatched.2 Hence appears the play of color in its
crystalline heart and the resplendent flashing of its radiant fire.
It may be as purely transparent and colorless as a drop of dew, or
it may display all the primary colors, such as red, orange, yellow,
blue, and violet; so that, as John Mandeville quaintly observed,
" It seems to take pleasure in assuming in turn the colors proper
to other gems." It is highly phosphorescent. Even the blackest
of diamonds are transparent to the X-rays. No acid will mar it,
no solvent will dissolve it. Its brilliance is undecaying, and ages
might roll by without rubbing the minutest particle from its ada-
mantine face. The diamond that gleamed with such strange fire
in an idol's eye before the rising of the Star of Bethlehem may be
sparkling to-day with more dazzling
radiance in the crown of an emperor.
Koh-i-nur and Darya-i-nur and Taj-
e-mah and Regent and Orloff and
Sancy and Shah will shine no less re-
splendent when the sovereigns that
now treasure them shall be dust. The shah.
the imperfections, if any, are visible in their natural state. See note, p. 3 1 , in
reference to cube diamonds.
l" Table of Indices of Refraction," Dufrenoy, p. 87. "Treatise on Gems,"
Feuchtwanger, New York, 1867.
2 " Table of the Distinguishing Characteristics of Gems," Feuchtwanger,
pp. 494—499. "Optical Properties of the Diamond," Sir David Brewster,
Phil. Trans., VIII, 157, 1817.
3 '« Le Grand Lapidaire," Paris, 1561.
4 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
" With the point of a diamond," Jeremiah (B.C. 600) says,1
records were graven when stones were writing-tablets ; but,
unfortunately for our knowledge, the diamond did not tell its
own story ; and it is, at best, a groping effort that would search
out the rising of this gem through the mists of tradition.
" Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God ; every
precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the
diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire,
the emerald, and the carbuncle. Thou wast upon the holy
mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst
of the stones of fire."2
How glowing are the words of the Prophet of the Captivity,
declaring the vainglory forerunning the doom of Tyre's princes
and people (588 B.C.). Did the three
rivers of Eden flow through sands glit-
tering with stones of fire ? Did the eating
of a little green apple from the tree of
knowledge open the eyes of the first
woman of earth to the lure of the gems
that are now so tempting to every daugh-
ter of Eve ? If not, how long was it
The Egyptian Pascha. before ^ ^^ ^ tfo Diamond, the
emerald and the ruby and the sapphire were added to the fig-
leaf covering of our first parents ?
Multicycles of refining are needed for a clear perception of
beauty. The aboriginal Adams and Eves did not have it. The
children of the twentieth century will open their eyes to its
light more quickly than those of the Stone Age, because the
children of to-day inherit the quickened sense of unnumbered
generations, and are taught to trace the range of beauty in
nature and art. Prehistoric man, a weakling in perception,
turned his eyes to the grand orb of the sun, rising above the
horizon and flooding the earth with its rays, to the pale bow
1 Jeremiah xvii.
2 Ezekiel xxviii. 13 and 14 (588 B.C.). Babylonian captivity of the Jews
(588-537 B.C.).
THE ANCIENT ADAMAS
of the moon and the ng of the firmament of stars,
the ceaseless surge of tb n and the mountain sumi
wreathed in clouds,-—
of nature, — before h
the petty circle
animal wants
by before the s;i
ing pebbles
and the f
Any o;
grander aspects and moti
drawn to lesser things outside
and the sating of his crude
TS of brutal life rolled
one of the gleam-
^ith bounding foot
r's bank.
as another's,
what lir or
the
idoubtedly found on the fa
arisome digging or quarrying, as they
ing in the gravel, washed from hillsides over th
the courses of rivers swelled by floods and
ings of the earth's crust to the sea. Thou
garnets, jasper, amethysts, sapphires, rubi
were picked up, maybe by children rummag
or the clefts of rocks, and thrown away a
of flint, before one was preserved and pri.
Is were much easier to collect anci
and rude armlets and leg-bands of *
were easily forged, and more to th
of stones.1
When some of the j: stones v
:r beds , of gra
owers attrib
hardness, ar
i
Hi- !>!-\\;>iM> MINKS OK SOUTH AFRICA
>V:-h -he pu:nt of a diamond," Jeremiah 'B.C. 600) says,1
ds *cre Craven '\hen stones wen: writing-tablets; but,
tunareiy tor our knowledge, the diamond did not tell its
and ir is, at best, a groping erFo1 'at would search
,'K- r'->ma of this sein through the mist--, oi tradition.
1'ho-.; hast b>-en in Kden, riv £;natn of God; every
us siont WHS thy covering tiie s, topaz, and the
>ri(i, rhc be^-vl, the onyx, and :h<* Kipper, the sapphire,
niotuid. uivl :iu caibuncle. Thyu wast upon the holy
itair; of f .»(.-' ; Hiou hast wulkcti u and down in the midst
word- <>.- Prophet of rhe Captivity,
:orerunnm-j ••_• doom of Tyre's princes
H.r.i. Did the three
, of h- -'--ugh sands glit-
Did the eating
"'n the tree of
of the first
, .'man of r.iith i :e t>t the gems
hat .i;v iH>u, - reruj^ :>J t'1 everv dau^h-
LI;W long was it
'\<A.'. ' the «iiamond, the
Irtlfcg were :idded to the fig-
td fnr a clear perception of
; I <es did not have it. The
their eyes to its
\!j;e, because the
ot unnumbered
;hc range of beauty in
i in perception,
'he sun, rising above the
• ir'h "h its r.iys, to the pale bow
of the Jews
THE ANCIENT ADAMAS 5
of the moon and the sparkling of the firmament of stars, to
the ceaseless surge of the ocean and the mountain summits
wreathed in clouds, — to all the grander aspects and motions
of nature, — before his eyes were drawn to lesser things outside
the petty circle of his rambling and the sating of his crude
animal wants. Mayhap thousands of years of brutal life rolled
by before the savage stooped to pick up any one of the gleam-
ing pebbles which the fierce tiger spurned with bounding foot
and the flying deer trampled heedlessly on the river's bank.
Any one may guess, and any one's guess is as good as another's,
what little pebble first drew the glance of the barbarian's eye or
the stoop of the rover's knee. The first-known precious stones
of the world were undoubtedly found on the face of the ground,
without any wearisome digging or quarrying, as they lay shin-
ing in the gravel, washed from hillsides over the plains, or along
the courses of rivers swelled by floods and sweeping the par-
ings of the earth's crust to the sea. Thousands of carnelians,
garnets, jasper, amethysts, sapphires, rubies, and diamonds
were picked up, maybe by children rummaging in gravel beds
or the clefts of rocks, and thrown away as carelessly as splinters
of flint, before one was preserved and prized. White and tinted
shells were much easier to collect and pierce and link together,
and rude armlets and leg-bands of copper and silver and gold
were easily forged, and more to the savage taste than any neck-
lace of stones.1
When some of the precious stones were lifted and borne
away from their beds in drifts of gravel, they were valued first
chiefly for the mystic powers attributed to pebbles of such rich
hues, phenomenal hardness, and peculiar lustre. One of them
would be worn in a pouch next to the bosom as an amulet or
charm, averting peril, inspiring courage, healing diseases, repell-
ing evil spirits, or winning the love of scornful maidens. Or,
if any one of these magic stones was set to gleam in the buckle
of a warrior's plume, it was less for a show of ornament than for
1 " A Treatise on Diamonds and Precious Stones," John Mawe, London,
1813.
6 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
its mystic shielding power and redoubling of valor. The tradi-
tion of these virtues has passed from generation to generation,
and still finds credence among the masses of Asia. The poor
natives of India believe to this day in the efficacy of sapphires
and rubies in purifying the blood, strengthening the body,
quenching thirst, dispelling melancholy, averting danger, and
assuring honor and fortune. The emerald in their eyes is
potent to dispel bad dreams, give courage, and cure palsies,
colds, and acute dysentery. The turquoise they say will brighten
and heal weak and sore eyes, and serve as an antidote for veno-
mous snake bites.1 Like the other precious stones, the diamond
was early endowed by fancy with medical virtues, and particu-
larly prized as a safeguard from madness, in its power to " raze
out the written troubles of the brain."1 It was also believed to
be potent to touch the heart, and there is a pretty conceit that
the darts of Cupid were diamond tipped. Perhaps the passion
of women for gems gave point to this fiction.
As the diverse stones of fire became better known and more
sharply distinguished, special significance was given to each by
some nations of the East, associating them with the planets,
the march of the seasons, or with various divinities. Sometimes
they were of emblematic service. For the representation of the
twelve tribes of Israel, twelve distinct gems were set in gold
plates on the robe of the high-priest.3 When the rise of letters
and the fine arts brought the devising of symbols and graven
inscriptions, the supposed potency of these stone amulets was
increased by the craft of priests and sorcerers, cutting the face
of the charms themselves or directing the hands of expert work-
1 "Oriental Accounts of Precious Minerals," Journal of Asiatic Society of
Bengal, August, 1832.
2 "Treatise on Gems," Feuchtwanger, New York, 1867.
3 Exodus xxviii. " Natural History of the Bible," Thaddeus M. Harris,
Boston, 1820. "Precious Stones in their Scientific and Artistic Relations," A.
H. Church, London, 1883. " De Duodecim Gemmis in Veste Aaronis."
Epiphanius, 1565. John Peter Lange, Professor University of Bonn, in Schaff's
"Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical Commentary" on the Bible.
THE ANCIENT ADAMAS 7
men. The Chaldeans are especially charged with the fomenting
of superstitions by the exaggeration of this conceit. These
engraved stones served often as distinctive seals, and for con-
venience in carrying and the gratification of a spreading taste for
such ornaments, the talismans were set in rings and clasps. So
Solomon's seal, summoning and mastering genii, was the wonder
of legends, and so, too, the famous ring of Polycrates and the
rival marvels of Oriental romancers familiar in the tales of the
" Arabian Nights."
As time and art disclosed more and more of the marvels of
the stones of fire in the crust of the earth, the wonder grew and
the supernatural potency of the various gems was more deeply
impressed. Thus we reach the belief and tribute of the priest
Onomacritus (500 B.C.), who declared of the lucent crystal,
" Whoso goes into the temple with this in his hand may be
sure of having his prayer granted, as the gods cannot withstand
its power." Its use to concentrate the sun's rays as a burning
glass was highly prized also in priestly ministrations.
Onomacritus says crudely of this use that " when a trans-
parent crystal is laid on wood, so that the sun's rays may shine
upon it, there will soon be seen smoke, then fire, then a bright
flame." Fire kindled through this agency was holy in the
sight of priests and people, and no burnt offering was so pleas-
ing to the gods as one set in these sacred flames.
The precious stones are so greatly dependent upon the ad-
vance in the art of polishing and cutting for the revelation of
their qualities and beauty that it was doubtless long after their dis-
covery before they came into any considerable use as ornaments.
Their hardness defied, at first, any effort to fashion their shape
with primitive tools. The most that could be effected was the
rude polish that might be obtained by the tedious rubbing of
the face of one stone against another. But, as time went on,
the lines of natural cleavage were noted, and grinding wheels
in the hands of skilful artisans gave a smooth face to the natural
contours of the softer stones, and, later, even to the sapphire
1 "Precious Stones and Gems," Streeter.
8 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
and diamond. With the advance in art the demand for precious
stones increased apace, and, to meet the demand, keener and
wider ranging searches developed new and greater supplies.
There is a certain tracing of the use of
precious stones for ornaments to the ancient
Babylonian civilization, whose existing ruins
extend back to from 6000 to 7000 years B.C.1
Babylonian lapidaries were cutting and polish-
ing carnelians, sards, onyx, and rock crystals
before the Egyptians had advanced beyond
The Polar Star. , . r' \ • r • T-'I
the carving or their sort steatite. I hen the
Phoenicians drew from all parts of the known earth its treasures.2
So Ezekiel testifies of Tyre : " Syria was thy merchant by
reason of the multitude of wares of thy making : they occupied
in thy fairs with emeralds, purple and broidered work and fine
linen and coral and agate. The merchants of Sheba and Raamah,
they were thy merchants : they occupied in thy fairs with chief
of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold."
Judea had some share of this stream. The Queen of Sheba
bore a "great store of precious stones " to Solomon (B.C. 101 5— 975)
with her tribute of gold,4 but this was a
trivial trickle compared with the flow to
Phoenicia and Babylonia. Long before the
days of the Captivity (B.C. 598),5 the robes
of the princes and nobles of these rich realms
were glittering with jewels, and their gor-
geous array was the marvel of the poor The Hope Blue,
exiles, crying with the voice of their prophet, Ezekiel : " Every
1 " Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge," Schaff-Herzog. "Archaeology
of the Past Century," Professor W. M. F. Petrie.
2 The Story of the Nations, " Phoenicia," George Rawlinson, M.A.
3 Ezekiel xxvii. 22.
4 " Old Testament History," William Smith. "Precious Stones in the
Scriptures," R. Hindmarsh, London, 1851.
5 Date of removal of jehoiachin, according to Prideaux and to Clinton. Ewald
makes the date 597 B.C.
THE A
precious stone was thy cove;
in the midst of the stom
of Eden in the valk
den typical of the s]
How th
of Eden or el;
its that
sprinkling of
dug and
ing thro
Th<
res,
.ien
among the
had
climbing of Zulmat Y
>le vali
rlet of t!
the
me n :
n in the i
legends, a
at Alex to th
precipice;
as no way of
pt by fin
o
on the mountain wit
: this tale in mind ft
11 be remembc
rt island a
to the
A1ISW3AINO
3HJ.
1 HK !;|A.\!(.)M)
VklC A
Present weight, 40 carats.
inci tor precious
and, keener and
.-. -eater supplies,
sang of the use of
K-nts to the ancient
whose existing ruins
o to 7000 years B.C.1
re cutting and poiinh-
k'x, rind rock crystals
id advanced beyond
cirife. Then the
•M?rh »ts treasures.2
merchant by
they occupied
work and fine
:>'d Kaamah,
- *srh chief
Weight before cuttin
carats ; weight after first
cutting, 67^ carats > pte»-
ent weight, 44^ carats.
\rchxology
•cic-* in the
jn. Ewald
THE ANCIENT ADAMAS 9
precious stone was thy covering. Thou hast walked up and down
in the midst of the stones of fire." As tradition placed the garden
of Eden in the valley of the Euphrates, Ezekiel makes the gar-
den typical of the splendor of Babylon in his fervid outpouring.
How the stones of fire were brought into being in the garden
of Eden or elsewhere, Ezekiel was not moved to reveal, and the
savants that have sought to tell are but groping seers. When a
sprinkling of stones was uncovered by the rains and floods, or
dug and washed from the beds of gravel, or traced by r.ude min-
ing through clay or conglomerate layers or enclosing rocks, there
was still no widespread knowledge of the deposits, and even
among the most familiar with the search there was ever the
hope of finding, some day, some marvellous store. Hence
sprung up the romances. Even in the days when the sharp
tooth of history had cut into legends, a story was told of the
climbing of Zulmat by the great Alexander, to the rim of the
inaccessible valley, where, beneath sheer precipices, glittered a
coverlet of the stones of fire. There was no way of winning the
diamonds that glowed so temptingly except by flinging down
masses of flesh and waiting for swooping vultures to bear the
lumps up to their perches on the mountain with precious stones
sticking in the meat.1
Sindbad the sailor had this tale in mind fortunately in his
second voyage. It will be remembered that he was stranded
by shipwreck on a desert island and carried away by the flight
of a gigantic rukh to the top of a distant mountain. From
this mountain he descended into a neighboring " valley, exceed-
ing great and wide and deep and bounded by vast mountains
that spired high in air." Walking along the wady, he found
that " its soil was of diamond, the stone wherewith they pierce
minerals and precious stones and porcelain and the onyx, for
that it is a dense stone and a stubborn, whereon neither iron or
hardhead hath effect, neither can we cut off aught therefrom,
nor break it save by means of lead stone."
1 " Oriental Accounts of" Precious Minerals," Journal of Asiatic Society of Ben-
gal, August, 1832.
io THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Luckily for the sailor, his descent was by day, for " the val-
ley swarmed with snakes and vipers, each as big as a palm tree,
that would have made but one gulp of an elephant ; and they
came out by night, hiding during the day, lest the rukhs and
eagles pounce on them and tear them to pieces." In view of
the horrid prospect of soon dropping through the throat of one
of these snakes, Sindbad began to wish that he had not flown
away from the island, where he was, at least, out of reach of vast
vipers, but he soon bethought himself of the old story of the
valley from which diamond-studded meat was "plucked by
eagles." So he quickly filled his pockets and shawl girdle and
turban with the choicest diamonds. Then he put a piece of raw
meat on his breast and lay down on his back. Soon a big
eagle swooped into the valley, clutched the meat in his talons,
and flew up to a mountain above, " where, dropping the carcass,
he fell to rending it," leaving the lucky sailor to scramble off
with his booty. He gave a parcel of the diamonds to the dis-
appointed merchant, who had cast down the meat, but he had
stuffed his clothes so full of the gems that he went home, after
some strange sight-seeing, with a great store of diamonds and
money and goods.1
This amazing tale is less teeming with interest than it was in
the days when it was first told, for, even hundreds of years
afterwards, diamond-lined valleys and monstrous rukhs and
snakes that could gulp down elephants were not beyond cre-
dence. If in valleys there might be a diamond lining, why
should there not be a massing of diamonds and rubies in the
dwellings of genii in caves, awaiting the entry of some lucky
Aladdin ? Oriental fancy, teeming with visions, disdained any
curbing within the petty confines of crawling experience, and was
prolific in marvels far more pleasing to the masses that egged
on the story-tellers with craving credulity. Who then could
explode these bubbles with any sharp prick of positive contra-
diction ? Even if in all known fields the precious stones were
gathered by toilsome searches only rarely rewarded, who had the
1 "Arabian Nights," Lady Burton's edition, Vol. Ill, pp. 476-482.
THE ANCIENT ADAM AS u
range of knowledge to deny the possible existence of caverns
filled with rubies or mountain summits studded with diamonds ?
Seeing that to this day so little can be asserted positively of
the forming of the precious stones scattered in the earth's crust,
it is not surprising that the origin of the stones of fire has been,
from the first, a baffling puzzle and a fountain-head of conflict-
ing surmises. Some wondering people viewed them as splin-
ters dropping from the stars, and some, as the creations or
transformations of genii. Some Hindoo miners still believe
that diamonds grow like onions, though much less quickly, and
that their age is marked by the difference in their size and
quality. Others suppose the common rock crystals to be
immature diamonds, and the distinction is marked by calling
the rock crystal kacha (unripe), while the diamond is pakka
(ripe).'
For the ripening of the crystals and the quickening of their
seeming inward fire, the lightning bolts, that sometimes rived
the ground, were thought to be potent. Others again, observ-
ing the liquid purity and likeness which is marked to this day
in the term " diamonds of the purest water," attributed the
forming of the crystals to the supernormal trickle and hardening
of dewdrops. It is of this fancy that Dryden makes poetic use
in his likening of the tears of Almahide : —
" What precious drops are those,
Which silently each other's track pursue,
Bright as young diamonds in their infant dew ? " 2
Bizarre speculation was stretched even to the point of attrib-
uting to these strange crystals animal instincts and reproductive
powers. Thus Barreto is quoted in the dictionary of Antonio
de Moraes Silva as saying : —
" Que os diamantes se unem, amam e procream." 3
1 "Oriental Accounts of Precious Minerals." Translation by Rajah Kalikis-
ken, Asiatic Society of Bengal.
2 "The Conquest of Granada," Second Part, Act III, Scene I, Dryden.
3 "Commonplace Book," Second Series, p. 668, Southey.
12 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
The tradition of the generative power of this marvellous
crystal originates with the Hindoos, and to this day the
natives of Pharrah will affirm that the diamond beds yield
fresh supplies of well-grown stones at intervals of from fifteen
to twenty years.
It is seemingly hopeless to attempt to fix with any certainty
the time when the diamond was first singled out from the peb-
bles in which it lay, and was prized by any one, or even when it
entered the list of gems known to the chief nations of Asia.
Traditions coming down through the mists of legendary ages are
conflicting and uncertain reliances at best. The ancient writers
add to this perplexity by loose or erroneous descriptions when
the advance of the science had not marked precise distinctions
of structure and composition. Thus the Carbunculus of Pliny
was probably stretched to cover the spinel or Balas ruby, the
garnet and other red stones, besides embracing the Anthrax of
Theophrastus or our modern ruby. Many ancient writers con-
founded also under the general term Smaragdus various dis-
tinct minerals of green color, not only the true emerald, but
green jasper, malachite, chryscolla, and fluor spar.1 Among the
common people, pretending to no mineralogical knowledge,
there was less thought of distinction, and, in days approaching
our own, Tavernier observes in his travels, A.D. 1669, after
describing the true ruby of Pegu, in Ceylon, " the fatherland
of rubies," that "all other stones in this country are called by
the name Ruby, and are only distinguished by color, thus, in
the language of Pegu, the sapphire is a Blue Ruby," etc.2 This
confusion is not surprising, and a much more discreditable one
occurred within the last thirty years in the sensational touting
of the discovery of rubies in the garnets of the Macdonnell
Ranges in South Australia. It seems highly probable that the
stone of exquisite blue, now particularly distinguished as the
typical sapphire, was the ancient Hyacinthus ; and the Sap-
phirus of the ancients certainly included the lapis lazuli and
1 "Precious Stones and Gems," Streeter, London, 1892.
2 " Voyages en Turquie, en Perse et aux Indes," Paris, 1676.
THE ANCIENT ADAM AS 13
covered the range of corundums of every tint except red. Thus
green sapphires are noted, although very rarely, and yellow and
gray, as well as pure white or colorless, and this stone is pre-
sumed by Streeter and other investigators to have been the
" adamas " first known to the Greeks.1
There can be no question that sapphires or corundums of
varied hue were much more common than diamonds in the hands
of the merchants of the East or any other ancient collectors before
the Christian era. The sapphire was, indeed, one of the most
widely known of all gems, and how highly it was valued may be
surmised from the dignity given to it by the sacred writers. The
prophet Ezekiel likens to a " Sapphire stone " the appearance of
the throne in the firmament above the cherubim. Job makes
it the representative of all gems in his splendid description of the
daring of miners.2
Like the sapphire, the diamond is repeatedly referred to by
the Hebrew writers. It formed one of the typical stones in the
high priest's breastplate, and Ezekiel puts it in the first rank of
the stones of fire. Jeremiah speaks of the sin of Judah as written
with the point of a diamond, " puncto adamantinis" of the Latin
Bible, but Streeter holds that this pen point was probably a
corundum and not the true diamond.3
This is a stretch of assumption largely based upon the lack
of any precise description applying to the diamond until close to
the beginning of the first century of our reckoning. Adamas,
the indomitable, the adamant of the ancients, was the name given
to the diamond because of its distinguishing hardness. Pliny
was greatly impressed by what he heard of this characteristic,
but obviously knew little or nothing of the stone by personal
handling or test. For he wrote down soberly : " The most
valuable thing on earth is the Diamond, known only to kings,
and to them imperfectly. It is only engendered in the finest
gold. Six different kinds are known, among these the Indian
1 " Traite de Mineralogie, avec application aux Arts," Brongniart, Paris,
1807.
2 Job xxviii. I— 1 1. 8 " Precious Stones and Gems," Streeter.
i4 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
and Arabian of such indomitable, unspeakable hardness, that
when laid on the anvil it gives the blow back in such force as to
shiver the hammer and anvil to pieces.1
Unfortunately for the aim of identifying the diamond with
the references to the ancient adamas, the term was commonly and
loosely applied to any substance of peculiar hardness. So moun-
tains of iron-stone, like unto that upon which the ship of Sindbad
was dashed, were called adamant, and so too were the arms and
armor of gods and heroes. Addison only transmits a tradition
in the fine lines of his poem —
" And mighty Mars, for war renowned,
In adamantine armor frowned."
In Homer, as Streeter notes, adamas occurs only as a per-
sonal name, and in Hesiod, Pindar, and other early Greek poets
it is used to signify any hard weapon or metal like steel or an
alloy of the harder metals.3 No distinct identification of the
diamond with adamas appears, according to Streeter's view, until
the first century A.D., in the writings of the Latin poet and astron-
omer Manilius, and his contemporary Pliny (A.D. 62-114). In
the fourth book of Manilius's poem " Astronomicum," occurs
this line, " Sic Adamas, punctum lapidis, pretiosior auro," which,
Streeter says, " is supposed to be the earliest indubitable reference
to the true diamond." It is difficult to see how this " stone's
point, more precious than gold," is any more distinct and indubi-
table in its reference to the diamond than the diamond pen point
of Jeremiah hundreds of years before. But Pliny, with all his
erroneous amplifications, unquestionably describes the true Indian
diamond as " colorless, transparent, with polished facets and six
angles ending either in a pyramid with a sharp point or with two
points like whipping tops joined at the base." 4
1 "Historia Naturalis," XXXVII, 15.
2 Poem addressed to Sir Godfrey Kneller, referring to William III. of England.
3 " a8a/Aas yevos otSv^ov," ^Eschylus. See Stanley's Commentary on ^Eschy-
lus, " Prometheus Vinctus."
4 Plinii Secundi (Caii), " Naturalis Historia," XXXVII, 15.
In view of the han
scratch every other pre*
fore contended that th
Greek writers as adat
doubted that, even at a
pale yellow topaz or a ,
mond in the hands
selling. Whatever
or the application ot
reason in this f
monds were found in
Christian, era. As far
were particularly prizec
and were strictly exacted in
diamond-bed washers. But t
were less jealously guarded,
have found their way ir
with the other peoples <
It seems most probable
their first knowledge 01
the Egyptians chiefly, f
of Egyptian derivation,
for the assumption that
version of the Hebi.
that allusions to the
wholly unreliable or
The main sur
onds with th
the appa
the site <
are brought
settings have h
1746. " Elem. de
Wor or.
1 » " Em
i or a
f gem
Present weight, 51 carats.
. > K1CA
hardness, that
such torve as to
j ;hf vbamond wuh
i was c Mnrnonly and
!i;ird:i<--. So moun-
h the <ivi.i of Sindbad
oo vvcr : :it<* arms
trans; ^~s a trad
•v as a per-
-'.'k poets
r an
tHi
in
irs
, And six
with two
THE ANCIENT ADAMAS 15
In view of the hardness of the sapphire, so great that it will
scratch every other precious stone except the diamond, it is there-
fore contended that this was the stone known to the earliest
Greek writers as adamas.1 This may be so, and it cannot be
doubted that, even at a much later day, a white corundum or a
pale yellow topaz or a good rock crystal often passed for a dia-
mond in the hands of collectors or in the sharp practice of gem
selling. Whatever may have been the blundering of the Greeks
or the application of adamas, there is, nevertheless, no sufficient
reason in this for questioning the probability that genuine dia-
monds were found in the gravels of India many centuries before the
Christian era. As far back as tradition goes the largest stones
were particularly prized by the native princes,
and were strictly exacted in tribute from the
diamond-bed washers. But the smaller stones
were less jealously guarded, and may readily
have found their way into the hands of traders
with the other peoples of Asia or with Egypt.
It seems most probable that the Jews derived
their first knowledge of precious stones from The Empress Eugenie"
the Egyptians chiefly, for the Hebrew names of the stones are
of Egyptian derivation.2 Thus there is no approach to certainty
for the assumption that the stones called diamonds in the English
version of the Hebrew Scriptures were not rightly named, or
that allusions to the diamond in other ancient writings were
wholly unreliable or mistaken.
The main support for the questioning of the mingling of
diamonds with the other gems noted by the ancient writers is
the apparent failure to uncover diamonds in the excavations on
the site of ancient temples and cities where other precious stones
are brought to light. Thus emeralds and other gems in various
settings have been exhumed from the volcanic overflow that
1 "History of Stones," Theophrastus. Edited by Sir John Hill, London,
1746. " Elem. de Min.," Lessing, II, 61. "The Great Diamonds of the
World," Streeter.
2 " Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge," Schaff-Herzog.
16 THE DIAiMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
buried Herculaneum and Pompeii, from the ruins of old Rome,
and the tombs of Egypt.1 In the course of explorations on the
site of Curium and other ancient towns in Cyprus, scarabs
and scaraboids of agate, onyx, jasper, and variously tinted car-
nelians were found, as well as gold ornaments, relics traced to the
days of Eteandros, king of Paphos in the seventh century B.C. ;
but no diamonds were unearthed in this collection.2 Nor is
there record, as yet, of the discovery of
diamonds in the explorations in Baby-
lonia.3
But this is, at most, evidence pointing
to what is undoubted, — the comparative
rarity of the diamond among the gems
that served as amulets or ornaments for
the people of western Asia, northern
The Nassak. . r . IT-- • i
Africa, or southern Europe prior to the
Christian era and for centuries afterward. Pliny expressly asserts
this rarity in his allusion to the diamond ; but the fact that the
gem was scarce, outside of India, is entirely compatible with its
occasional inclusion in the collections of sovereigns, which the
same writer remarks, and the high value set upon it would
naturally limit its use as an ornament.
It is impossible to mark with any precision in what district
of India a search for diamonds first began. Rajah Sourindo
Mohun Tagore, in his account of the precious stones of India,
gives the names of eight localities in which diamonds have been
found according to tradition or more certain report. These are
Harma (Himalayas), Matanga (Kistna), and Godaveri (or Gol-
conda), Saurashtra (Surat), Paunda (probably including the Chutia
Nagpur Province), Kalinga (the tract between Orissa and the
Godaveri), Kosala (the modern Ajodhya or Berar), Vera Ganga
1 Clarke's " Travels," Vol. VIII, p. 150.
2 Story of the Nations, " Phoenicia," George Rawlinson.
3 " Nineveh and Babylon," pp. 160-161, 602 et seq., Layard ; " Arch-
aeology of the Past Century," Professor W. M. F. Petrie.
^.OUTH AFRICA
Present weight, 82! carats.
. from the ruins ot u)d Rome,
•he course of explorations on the
-.. vnt towns in Cyprus, -if
>., jasper, and various; tin red car-
nold ornaments, :-ehcs traced to the
''iphos in t'-u- ^evenrh century B.C.;
.TiMrrhed in this collection.* Nor is
•;/;-• record. ;<> •.•", 'it the disrown of
.t?ii'>nds in • explorations nt K
But thi'
fo xvlvrii ;s li
rnriiy ot t.!.
thar vf.TVv.-ii
the people
Africa, or ,
Most, evidence pointing
- the comparative
j among the gems
ornaments for
Asu, northern
prior to the
: x-^CMsi', asserts
?a- r that the
. *' («»»e Vrith its
v which the
it would
u in, irk -,s 'in .in
•r cii'.ir.i-".pi'..s fir>f
• . ; .uTnuin ot tjv.
''\! localities in •
..••;<.'.'! or more <.
'•-! i-.>:ufM. : Ki<tr. -
Hat district
j Sounndo
s ot India,
r.,i\'«; been
I hese are
:i (or Gol-
the Chutia
sa and the
era (.janga
ADA
(the Wemganga
and Indus rive:
According r howir
wide ranging r\
comprehens;
surface deposits, and -.
logic antiqu
borrows its i
It seem^ pre?
n the Sarhund
ored over a
•
indyha-
Hills of old £
t the surface wast
from th the diamond in i
glomer gravels there arc
quently no d z of a conglomei
rounded pv It is likely that
firs'. he surface wash and that the
mon
In some of the diamond-bearing districts of India to-day
the native villagers are searching for diamonds exactly as their
fathers did in days of remotest tradition. After a heavy rain
that washes away loose soil, a
sprinkling of diamonds may be
found in expos .stone brec-
cia, and sh;i. Him.
scrape the face of the ground for
the precious cr
Along the banks of the Kistna
and Godaveri rivers the Golconda
of tradition outstretched, and this
diamond-studded ground came
later in;- .nds of the Nizam \\
of 1 id, and was included
in the bounds of the Madras Preside^
bed of the Koh-i-nur and
and «f the jewels most renow
Here, of a certainty, was the richest d
1 "Mani Mala," Calcutta, 1879.
1 " Manual of Geological Survey of India," P
ight before cutting, 787! carats;
present weight, 279^ carats.
THE ANCIENT ADAMAS 17
(the Wemganga), and Saubira (the stretch between the Sarhund
and Indus rivers).1
According to this showing the diamond is scattered over a
wide ranging region, but it occurs everywhere in one of two
comprehensive formations, — alluvial or otherwise disintegrated
surface deposits, and conglomerate rocks of far receding geo-
logic antiquity, belonging to the Vindyhan formation, which
borrows its name from the Vindyhan Hills of old geographers.2
It seems reasonable to presume that the surface wash comes
from the disintegration of the seat of the diamond in con-
glomerate beds, — for even in alluvial gravels there are fre-
quently no diamonds found outside of a conglomerate of
rounded pebbles and sandstone breccia. It is likely that the
first diamonds were taken from the surface wash and that the
more solid breccia was opened later.
In some of the diamond-bearing districts of India to-day
the native villagers are searching for diamonds exactly as their
fathers did in days of remotest tradition. After a heavy rain
that washes away loose soil, a
sprinkling of diamonds may be
found in exposed sandstone brec-
cia, and sharp-eyed Hindoos
scrape the face of the ground for
the precious crystals.
Along the banks of the Kistna
and Godaveri rivers the Golconda
of tradition outstretched, and this
diamond-studded ground came
later into the hands of the Nizam
of Hyderabad, and was included The Great Mogul,
in the bounds of the Madras Presidency. Here, it is claimed,
was the bed of the Koh-i-nur and Regent and Great Mogul,
and others of the jewels most renowned in history and romance.
Here, of a certainty, was the richest diamond field in India, in
1 "Mani Mala," Calcutta, 1879.
2 "Manual of Geological Survey of India," Professor V. Ball, Vol. III.
i8 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
the days of Tavernier's travels (1669 A.D.). Here was the
famous mine, " Gani-Coulour," that he saw, where sixty thou-
sand natives were then at work, and " Gani-Parteal," and
twenty more of lesser note.1 Gani-Coulour has probably been
identified with the modern Kolur on the Kistna, Gani being
simply a slight change of the Persian " Kan-i " or "mine of,"
so that Gani-Coulour is the mine of Kolur as Gani-Parteal is
the mine of Parteal.2 The surface ground of this district along
the rivers is a black " cotton soil " washed down by floods, and
underlying this at an average depth of twenty feet is a layer of
broken sandstone, quartz, jasper, flint, and granite, interspersed
with masses of calcareous conglomerate, forming the stratum in
which the diamonds were embedded. When the black soil had
been dug up laboriously and carried away, the diamond-bearing
layer was exposed, and was removed, piecemeal, to level stretches
of ground or prepared floors, where it was scraped and picked
over by hand to find the diamonds.
The whole of this rich mining district and a tract stretching
for many miles away was loosely called Golconda, or the King-
dom of Golconda, by foreign traders and travellers, because the
town of Golconda was its capital and the trading centre where
the diamonds from the mines were chiefly bought and sold.
The only mark of this old mart to-day is a deserted fort near
Hyderabad, but its fame will endure until traditionary Golconda
ceases to be a standard of riches.
Next in importance and prestige to the mines of Golconda
was the diamond field of Sumbulpur, in the Central Provinces,
between the rivers Mahanadi and Brahmini. The diamonds of
this district were remarkable for their purity and beauty, though
no very large crystals have been traced to this region, and the
few which the washings still yield rank with the finest of the
Indian stones. Here the precious stones were found chiefly
along the course of the Mahanadi, in a stratum of tough clay
and pebbles stained reddish by iron oxide. At the opening of
1 " Voyages en Turquie, en Perse et aux Indes," Tavernier, Paris, 1676.
2 " Manual of Geological Survey of India," Vol. III.
THE ANCIENT ADAMAS 19
the dry season, thousands of villagers, men, women, and chil-
dren, began to search every cleft and cranny in the river beds
for diamonds. With ankovas, or light picks, the men broke
and scraped out the diamond-bearing bed and piled the broken
ground on the river bank. Then the women scooped up
ground from the heaps with their daers. These were shovel-
shaped boards, about five feet long, with ridged sides and hol-
lowed in the centre. Resting one end of the daer on the
ground and tilting the other slightly, they washed away the clay
and sand and picked off the rock splinters and larger pebbles.
After this rude sorting they spread out the finer gravel on a
smaller board, the kootla, and scraped it over very carefully to
separate the diamond crystals and grains of gold. When there
was a level stretch along a bank, the native workers would some-
times make an enclosure on this flat, with a low wall pierced at
several points by small waterways. Then they would dump
the diamond-bearing ground into this shallow basin and wash
away the clay and dirt with running water. After two or three
washings they would pick out the larger stones from the cleaned
gravel, and dry the remainder, to be picked over on their kootlas
or on any smooth, hard flooring.
Perhaps the most laborious diamond digging in India has
been in the pits of Panna and neighboring villages in the Prov-
ince of Bundelkhund. Here the diamond-bearing conglomerate
was buried under a cover of heavy ground, ranging in places
over thirty feet in thickness. To reach the diamond strata large
pits were dug, with inclines leading to the bottom in or below the
conglomerate. There was no drainage, and the diamond diggers
were forced to work in the rainy season knee-deep in water,
breaking the conglomerate, and filling baskets which were hauled
by hand to the top of the pits. In this primitive fashion the
diamond beds of India were opened, and diamonds are to-day
won by these simple methods or others essentially similar.1
1 "A Treatise on Diamonds and Precious Stones," John Mawe, London,
1813. " A Treatise on Gems," Feuchtwanger, New York, 1867. "Precious
Stones and Gems," Streeter, London, 1892.
20 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Color and size were the chief distinction in diamonds, as in
the other precious stones, in the early days before the advance
of the art of diamond cutting which has added so greatly to the
brilliancy and beauty of this gem. Centuries ran by before
the ancient lapidaries attempted more than the polishing of the
surfaces of the natural facets of the crystal, though the compara-
tive ease with which this hardest of stones may be split by fol-
lowing the natural cleavage lines may have been observed. Size
was rated so highly by the Hindoos in valuing a gem that the
conception of increasing the worth of a jewel by cutting away
the greater part of it would not have been tolerated even if it
had been feasible. When cutting to a limited extent began to
be practised in India, it was generally unsymmetrical and unsci-
entific, as the oldest known diamonds bear witness, and there
was comparatively little advance for many centuries, as every
celebrated gem of Indian workmanship plainly shows.1 But
even with imperfect cutting and crude polishing the inherent
beauties of the ancient stones were more or less fully disclosed.
In the mines of Panna there were four noted divisions in
grading. Clear and brilliant stones were in the class Motichul,
Mansk was the class name applied to diamonds of greenish tint,
Panna to light yellow, and Bunsput to sepia colored stones.2
In India at large there was a comprehensive divisional grading
corresponding to the main caste distinctions, — the "twice-born,"
priests, warriors, and merchants, and the " once-born," tillers of
the land.3 The Brahmans were the diamonds of highest range,
clear and colorless crystals ; the Kshatriyas, clear crystals, amber
tinted or of the color of honey ; Vaisyas, the cream colored ; and
the servile Sudras, the grayish white stones. Grades in rank
were more minutely marked in the rubies of the famous Badak-
shan mines in Persia, where the common people believed that
the precious stones were deposited in the " rag-i-lal " or parent
vein in successive layers. The outside layer contained the small
1 " A Treatise on Diamonds and Pearls," David Jeffries, London, 1751.
2 " Precious Stones and Gems," Streeter.
3 "Annals of India," J. Talboys Wheeler, Calcutta, 1881.
THE ANCIENT ADAMAS 21
and imperfect stones styled piadehs, foot soldiers ; the next, a
better class of stones called sawars, horse soldiers; and so on
through layers of amirs, bakshis, and vazirs until a single stone
was reached, transcending all in size and beauty, which the min-
ers polished dutifully, and took in tribute to their sovereign.1
With the expansion of Greek commerce and the entry of
Greek mercenaries into the employ of satraps in Asia Minor
(about 500 B.C.), the riches of the Orient were made known, and
precious stones began to pass into Europe. Herodotus, 484 B.C.,
was first of the early Greek writers 2 to mark particularly the dis-
plays of precious stones in palaces and temples — the signet rings
of Darius, the magnificent emerald in the ring of Polycrates, and
the marvellous show of the emerald column in the temple of
Hercules in Tyre, gleaming like a pillar of green fire at night.
This fiery column has a certain likeness to the traditional stone
as big as an ostrich egg, to which homage was paid as the " God-
dess of Emeralds" by the people of the Manca Valley in Peru.
Sceptics would clip the marvel of both by substitution of beryl,
or aquamarine, or colored glass ; but this trimming of legend
does not question the extraction of true emeralds from mines in
Upper Egypt, or the superb yield of the deposits in Peru and
New Grenada.8
The conquests of Alexander the Great (334-323 B.C.) made
the Greeks familiar with the precious stones of India as well as
of Western and Central Asia. His successors revelled in pro-
fuse displays of jewelled rings and bracelets, and wine cups and
candelabra, in luxurious banquets. Pliny tells a glowing tale of
a statue of Arsinoe, wife of Ptolemy Philadelphus (283 B.C.),
four cubits in height, made of topazon.4 The true topaz was
undoubtedly known to the ancient Egyptians, and is still obtained
at Risk Allah near the old emerald mines of Jebel Zabara ; but
the Oriental topaz is presumed to have been the yellow sapphire ;
1 "Oriental Accounts of Precious Minerals," Journal of Asiatic Society of
Bengal, August, 1832. '2 Rawlinson's "Herodotus."
3 Brun's " Travels." Rawlinson's " Herodotus," II. 44. Prescott's " Con-
quest of Mexico." 4 "Historia Naturalis," XXXVII, 32.
22 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
and the Greek topazios, the yellowish green chrysolite or the
peridot, of deeper green tint. The word is derived from Torra£a,
" to seek," because the traditional source was an island in the
Red Sea, often difficult to reach through its envelope of fog.1
The loose use of the term by Pliny and other old writers makes
it impracticable to mark with any certainty from what greenish
hued stone Arsinoe's statue was cut. Still, in spite of current
exaggeration and confusion of distinctions, there can be no doubt
of the rising production and circulation of the precious stones.
With the spread of the Roman Empire prodigality in dis-
plays ran riot. After Pompey's victory over Mithradates,
(B.C. 66) precious stones and pearls poured into Rome and the
demand of vanity rose to a passion.2 Pliny writes : " We drink
out of a mass of gems crusting our wine bowls, and our drinking
cups are emeralds." To heighten the wonder he tells in his gos-
siping way how emeralds were set as the eyes of a lion sculptured
in marble on the tomb of King Hermias in the island of Cyprus.
So great was the size and so piercing the light of these emerald
eyes that the tunny fish in the surrounding sea were frightened
away until the fishermen of Cyprus put common stones in place of
the dazzling gems. Later scepticism would make these emerald
eyes of malachite, for copper ores were of common occurrence in
Cyprus3 and the glory of the emerald was scattered by loose usage
over green fluor spar, jasper, aquamarine, malachite, and perhaps
even green glass. There is also a shaking of the marvel of the cups,
holding a pint, that were made out of solid carbuncles ; for these
are supposed to be cuttings from the common garnets of the Bar-
bary coast, flowing out from Carthage in such profusion that the
carbuncle was called "the Carthaginian stone."4
Beryl was largely used in the ornamentation of cups and
1 Diodorus Siculus, Lib. Ill, c. 38. Jameson's " Mineralogy," p. 48.
Kidd's " Mineralogy," I, izi. 2 " Historia Naturalis," XXXVII, 6-7.
3 Cleaveland's "Mineralogy," p. 565. Theophrastus, " De Lapid.,"
c. 49.
4 "The Story of Carthage," p. 121, Alfred J. Church, M.A. "Story of
the Nations."
THE ANCIENT ADAMAS 23
for cameos ; 1 and carnelian was particularly prized as a base for
the engraving of seals or cameos, sometimes elaborately pictorial.
The great scarab in the Prussian cabinet, representing the five
heroes of Thebes, is a recognized masterpiece of old Etruscan
art, and a deep-cut carnelian once belonging to Michael Angelo
portrays the birthday festival of Dionysius.2 Amethyst ranked
with carnelian as a favorite stone with engravers, and it was of
peculiar traditional service in the fashioning of drinking cups,
from its supposed checking of drunkenness, whence its Greek
name, — a, " not," and /u,e0uw, " to intoxicate." Opals were
placed in the first rank of gems, and Pliny tells of a senator,
Nonius, who bore banishment and the loss of all his estate
rather than the sacrifice of his opal ring to the greed of Mark
Antony.3
Pearls were even more highly valued and lavishly displayed
than any of the precious stones. Swelling the yield of the
Mediterranean shores there flowed into Rome a profusion of
still finer pearls from the Persian Gulf and Ceylon, to be set in
necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and clasps of all kinds. Rich robes
were bespangled with jewels, and it is reported that Lollia Pau-
lina, the wife of Caligula (A.D. 37-41), wore a dress covered with
pearls and emeralds. Cleopatra's famous pearls were said to
have cost her ^80,000. Julius Caesar (B.C. 102-44) gave Servilia,
Cato's sister, a pearl valued at over ^£50,000, and Nero dropped
handfuls of pearls in the laps of his mistresses (A.D. 54-68).
From personal adornments, the decoration of arms and trap-
pings, and the embellishing of banquets, the use of gems spread
to the mounting of pictures in frames studded with precious
stones, and the ornamentation of statuary. Nero viewed the
combats of gladiators in a mirror of jewels,4 and Constantine
1 " Historia Naturalis," XXXVII, 20.
2 "A Treatise on Gems," Feuchtwanger.
3 "Historia Naturalis," XXXVII, 21.
4 Ibid. XXXVII, 1 6. Beckmann thinks the mirror of Smaragdus in which
Nero gazed may have been green obsidian, green jasper, or even green glass.
"History of Inventions," III, 177.
24 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
challenged the splendor of Oriental monarchs by his entry into
Rome in a chariot of gold sparkling with precious stones
(A.D. 312-337).
Amid all this profusion, in which millions of sesterces were
lavished, the diamond is noted only by rare allusions. This is
probably accounted for by the check in the advance of lapidary
art on reaching a stone of such indomitable hardness. Even
the diamonds set in the clasp of the regal mantle of Charlemagne,
after the opening of the ninth century, show only a partial polish-
ing of the natural planes of the crystals. There was no scientific
cutting of facets to heighten the brilliancy of the stone until the
fifteenth century. When artificial shaping was attempted before
that time, it did not go beyond the production of a flat top or
table, or a convex surface, with a truncated pyramid as a base.
Even when a large number of facets were cut, as was sometimes
O '
done by East Indian lapidaries, there was no scientific propor-
tioning, as was signally shown in the instance of the remarkable
stone known as the " Beau Sancy," which came into the posses-
sion of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. It was the recut-
ting of this stone in 1465, by the true artist Louis de Berquem
of Bruges, that marks the rising of the modern art that has
enhanced so immensely the resplendence and beauty of the
diamond, and established its place securely as the chief among
gems that are prized for adornment.
Then begins the entry of the famous diamonds passing over
the face of Europe with meteoric trains of adventure. The
Beau Sancy glitters for a moment in the splendid array led by
Charles the Bold against the Swiss peasants. On the bloody
field of Granson (3d March, A.D. 1476) where the best knights
of Burgundy were killed or put to flight by the mountaineers,
the jewel that might ransom a king is trampled under foot in
the rout. A Swiss soldier picks it up. It is no more in his
eye than a bit of glass which he is well pleased to sell for a florin
to a priest. Philip de Commines says that the priest knew no
more of its value than the soldier, and thought he did well to
make a franc by selling the diamond to the burghers of Berne.
TH !
There appears
reappear oi: irer in i
of Portugal, who plet!- :Vom
Nichoh
of France. soon buys it oi.
thousand t: !e for a
of his kin^.
When i
(1589), M. ii<
him
and i_one
So his body
is thro his
the place of burial is later Resent weight, 531.* carats.
seai \1. de Sancy, the 1
found in th ;>mach.
Undimmed -cly adventure, it r"
to shine on the ; jth of England
From the la-
the few treas
from his throne
buys the gen
ie of tru
lution. In i
bear it offwi
years, till it
the Den
less a
hand
of the c<
by the a
1 "A Treatise on '
Streeter.
\ ; /r I
>KjJ
W
ujth ;; trui:
• -t f:uc:^- \\
F SOTf if AFKK'A
monarchs ;i:s entry into
.ling *irh . jous stones
sesterces were
cions. This is
re of lapidary
^-iness. I'.ven
? I harkmagnc,
1 partial jv>lwh-
as no scientific
•j.ne until the
tempted before
f a flat top or
mid as a base,
was sometimes
•-.-p^hc propor-
remarkable
rhe
! he
'<rd by
hioody
•>'. knights
t.ntaineers,
-ifr foot in
.•>ri- in his
'or a florin
THE ANCIENT ADAMAS 25
There the diamond disappears. One current story makes it
reappear one hundred years later in the possession of the king
of Portugal, who pledges it with other jewels for a loan from
Nicholas Harlai, Seigneur de Sancy, and treasurer of the king
of France. M. de Sancy soon buys it outright for one hundred
thousand francs and loans it to sparkle for a time on the head
of his king, Henry III. (A.D. 1574-1589).
When Henry of Navarre comes to the throne
(1589), M. de Sancy sends the diamond to
him by a trusted servant. Thieves waylay
and kill the messenger, but the precious stone
is seemingly not in his keeping. So his body
is thrown into a grave hastily made by his
murderers. When the place of burial is later The Sancy.
searched out by direction of M. de Sancy, the lost diamond is
found in the dead man's stomach.
Undimmed in this ghastly adventure, it rises from the grave
to shine on the breast of Elizabeth of England (A.D. 1558—1603).
From the last of the Tudors it passes to the Stuarts, and one of
the few treasures that James the Second carries off in his flight
from his throne (A.D. 1688) is the brilliant Sancy. Louis XIV.
buys the gem from the king in exile (A.D. 1695), and it is held
as one of the most precious of the crown jewels until the Revo-
lution. In 1792 robbers break open the treasure chamber and
bear it off with other plunder. Again it is beyond tracing for
years, till it reappears in the hands of a noble Russian family,
the Demidoffs, from whom it passes to London merchants, and
finally to the Maharajah of Puttiala. It may be that the adven-
tures of two diamonds are fused in this tale, but it is none the
less an outline of truth with the marvel of romance.1
Even Aladdin's wonderful palace, reared in a night by the
hands of obedient genii, scarcely outstripped the glittering show
of the court of the Great Moguls, enthroned in Delhi (A.D. 1526)
by the arms of the Sultan Baber and his grandson Akbar, of the
1 " A Treatise on Gems," Feuchtwanger. " Great Diamonds of the World,"
Streeter.
26 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
line of Timour the Tartar. Here embassies passed through the
main gate of the palace along a magnificent avenue to the grand
central square. Thousands of bodyguards in splendid dress lined
the way, and behind the ranks richly caparisoned elephants
were massed, waving flags of satin and silver. Dark eyes peered
through the crimson hangings of the howdahs and the gilded
lattices of the zenana cloisters bordering the square. Beyond
the cloisters gardens outspread, with beds of lovely flowers and
sheltering arbors and fountains splashing in sculptured basins.
The entrance to the durbar or audience hall was through a
pavilion hung with tapestries of purple and gold to a stately
marble chamber, whose pillars and walls gleamed with rainbow
hues. Under a canopy of flowered tissue on silver poles was set
the imperial throne, the matchless triumph of Indian art. There
strutted two peacocks fashioned deftly of jewels and gold to
depict every plume and hue of the living creature. The out-
spread tail seemed to flutter in mimicry of life with the sheen of
sapphires and emeralds. The body was of enamelled gold and
the eyes two radiant diamonds. Peacocks were emblems of the
sun and of the descent of the Great Moguls from the sun through
Chenghiz Khan. Ranged beside these splendid figures were
stands bearing masses of unfading flowers, for every stem and
leaf and petal was counterfeited in precious stones and metals.
When the Great Mogul took his seat on his throne of solid
gold studded with jewels, all bent low before his imperial
majesty attired in cloth of gold blazing with precious stones
in armlets and necklaces and crusted embroidery. Over the
entrance to the hall was engraven in letters of gold : " If there
be an elysium on earth, it is this." Here was at least a splendor
of luxury beyond all rivalry. Never was shown, in vain Babylon,
adventurous Tyre, or imperial Rome, any display as dazzling as
the jewels of Delhi.1
1 "The Turks in India," Henry George Keene, London, 1879. "His-
tory of British India," Sir W. W. Hunter. Hunter's "Indian Empire."
"Tales from Indian History,"]. Talboys Wheeler. "Travels in the East,"
Vol. Ill, Forbes.
AW! 27
Here the Ko!i-i-nur, Mounts^ i price-
less trophy. In ?he great battle of i
when the last ei of the Afghan '
beaten by Baber, the Rajah of Gwa! .ell," as
Baber wrote g I — valued "at
half the dai' > hole wor'ii " — came in tribute to
Humaiun, ; lere, too, were the
Koh-i-t -nur, Sea of Light,
and the loon, and that prodigy of
diamonds, the :o Shah Jehan by the
Emir
These j /eted and hoarded with insane
passion wh her lure in the boasted elysium was as
Dead .S to the jaded senses.
Shah Jehan, dethroned and impris-
oned at Agra, sank to dotage, clasp-
ing his casket of jewels, and trickling
diamonds and rubies over his head
and breast. When his son, Aurung-
zeb, sent a messenger to borrow some V \^^ <^\~-.\/
of this hoard, the resentful old man
threatened to break up the gems in
rr-. Present weight, 106 carats.
a mortar. Shah Rokh, the feeble son
of Nadir Shah, who broke the peacock thrjt
was blinded by the Aga Mohammed in
the Koh-i-nur. Then his head was
ring of paste to hold boiling oil, but even this
onl the surrender of a ruby plucked from tfie crown of
Aurunp >hah Zaman, blinded by his brother Shuja, hid
the Koh-i-nur defiantly for years in the plaster of his prison
cell ; and Shuja, blinded by a third brother, Mahmud, yielded
up the priceless stone to Runjeet Singh, only 8 his family
from agon; /-ing death.
In the sa k of Delhi by Nadir Shah in 1739, t^le wonderful
1 Memoirs of Sultan Baber.
1 "Voyage- en Turquie, en Perse et ttr , Paris, 1676.
>< HTTU AI'kK A
s:ts passed through the
; :uc; -;e to the grand
i-.'idid dress lined
i -i: , ' «iied elephants
1 ark e\-.-s peered
' ...vi i:ii»s ::nd thr gilded
• u :%.f Miuare. Beyond
.;t i./volv flowers and
!-i sculptured basins.
;v;-e hail was through a
i ••; i xuid to a stately
.: ltd with rainbow
I'ver poles was set
1 I :..;i jn trr. There
and gold to
The out-
"h^cn of
and
m penal
stones
(\er the
"If there
• ;i splendor
- .an Babylon,
as da/zling as
^~y. "Hts-
V.UM Empire."
;n the East,"
THE ANCIENT ADAMAS 27
Here the Koh-i-nur, Mountain of Light, sparkled, a price-
less trophy. .In the great battle of Pariput (April 2ist, 1526),
when the last emperor of the Afghan-Lodi dynasty, Ibrahim, was
beaten by Baber, the Rajah of Gwalior was " sent to hell," as
Baber wrote grimly, and his most precious jewel — valued "at
half the daily expense of the whole world" — came in tribute to
Humaiun, the great sultan's favorite son.1 Here, too, were the
Koh-i-tur, Mountain of Sinai, and the Darya-i-nur, Sea of Light,
and the Taj-e-mah, Crown of the Moon, and that prodigy of
diamonds, the Great Mogul, presented to Shah Jehan by the
Emir Jemla.2
These precious stones were coveted and hoarded with insane
passion when every other lure in the boasted elysium was as
Dead Sea fruit to the jaded senses.
Shah Jehan, dethroned and impris-
oned at Agra, sank to dotage, clasp-
ing his casket of jewels, and trickling
diamonds and rubies over his head
and breast. When his son, Aurung-
zeb, sent a messenger to borrow some
of this hoard, the resentful old man
threatened to break up the gems in
01 i T> i i i c \ i The Koh-i-nfir. (Present Cutting.)
a mortar, bnan Rokn, the feeble son
of Nadir Shah, who broke the peacock throne of the Moguls,
was blinded by the Aga Mohammed in the vain effort to extort
the Koh-i-nur. Then his head was shaved and circled with a
ring of paste to hold boiling oil, but even this intensity of torture
only forced the surrender of a ruby plucked from the crown of
Aurungzeb. Shah Zaman, blinded by his brother Shuja, hid
the Koh-i-nur defiantly for years in the plaster of his prison
cell ; and Shuja, blinded by a third brother, Mahmud, yielded
up the priceless stone to Runjeet Singh, only to save his family
from agonizing death.
In the sack of Delhi by Nadir Shah in 1739, the wonderful
1 Memoirs of Sultan Baber.
2 "Voyages en Turquie, en Perse et aux Indes," Tavernier, Paris, 1676.
28 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
store of jewels in the court of the Mogul emperors was borne away
by the plunderers. It is supposed that the Great Mogul was
broken at that time, and other famous diamonds were beyond
tracing for years. The great gems were still more widely scat-
tered upon the assassination of Nadir Shah, and some of the finest
of the crown jewels of Europe have probably come from the
hoards of Delhi. The Darya-i-nur and Taj-e-mah were set in a
pair of bracelets which Sir John Malcolm saw at the court of
Persia,1 and they are still the most precious of the jewels of the
Shah. Some have seen in the Orloff or Sceptre diamond of the
Czar, the reappearance of the Great Mogul, but Streeter thinks
that the Great Mogul has never come to light since the loot of
the treasures of Nadir Shah by the Abdalli-Afghans.
When the Koh-i-nur came into the hands of Runjeet Singh,
he had the stone set in a bracelet which he wore proudly on
every parade day. On his death-bed he sought to propitiate
the gods by presenting this, the chief of his jewels, to the shrine
of Jaga-nath (Juggernaut), but his hand was too weak to sign the
warrant of delivery. So the gem descended to the young rajah
Dhulip-Singh, and was held until the
Indian mutiny and the seizure of the
Punjaub by the English forces. Then
the state property of the province was
confiscated to pay debts due to the East
India Company, but the Koh-i-nur was
reserved for the English crown, and on
June jd, 1850, this jewel, from earliest
The orioff. tradition the emblem of conquest, was
placed in the hands of Queen Victoria by the messengers of
Lord Dalhousie.
Every precious stone of uncommon size has some adventure
to tell, though its tale may not be a drama of as many acts as the
Koh-i-nur's career. What a strange story might be drawn from
the Orloff of the sights in the temple of Mysore, when it was
the eye of the Hindoo god, Sri-Ranga.2 There was no other
1 " Sketches of Persia," Sir John Malcolm, 1827. 2 Ibid.
AFRICA
Present weight, 194* cnrats.
>t the Moini! emperors was borne away
supposed that the drear Mogul was
other MPKHIS diamonds were beyond
eir !„'• •'!>> vsere <-riil more widely seat-
\a«jir Siuih, a iid some of the finest
probably conic from the
. u.i ai:d Taj-e-mah were sei in a
Malcolm saw at the court of
o>t i>recio','s ot the jewels ot the
h !••?!' or Sceptre diamond of the
Mouul, but Streeter thinks
> iij.';ht since the loot of
Afghans.
i' kunjeet Singh,
: proudly on
:{!u to propitiate
;, to the shrine
i s lu!...i ---as roo ^\ik ro sign the
.--ided to rn^1 young rajah
•,;.",, ami \\»^ hi Id until rhe
,.lim • : :••- aiui t'he .ei/ure of the
forces. Then
sfi'v :\ of tf province was
i.-t «> the Fast
: ( k -»h-t nur was
: ..-AH, and on
in.t'r. earliest
Conquest, was
• ••. : lie -Messengers of
has some adventure
],;i!!vi of as manv acts as the
" in tie ::>;>rs' micrht be drawn from
(:-.-Mpit of Mvsorc, wh. • was
• R intri.- 'i'luie w.is ; • ..rher
witness of the ?
a devotee on ti-
the precious stone «.
to Madras. Here tru
^£2,000 for his
times this sum v
favor of the
The Rege
gems of th-
in the bank
1701, c<
the s:
first opt *>e sei
coast and to;
mere'1
big diamond was
the captain. When
open sea, he flung th rboai
to drown, and took
merchant, from wh<
George, Thomas Pitt, gr.i:i-
It was one of the
stone weighing 410 "
to be out of h;
racked by the fear ot
ful gem was in his !-* * Mid
at a i
peace of
for ^135,000 to
minority of Louis X
made une of the
most prodigal and luxu
the Bourbons until the
stolen by the robbers who earn*
:h rough r
Weight before cutting, 410 carats;
present weight, 136}! carats.
arm-
n the
stone
iter in the
was held by
1792 it was
:y and thrown into
THE ANCIENT ADAMAS 29
witness of the sacrilege of the French grenadier, masquerading as
a devotee on the black and stormy night when he plucked out
the precious stone eye and ran off through the British army lines
to Madras. Here the captain of an English ship gave him
^2,000 for his prize, but it cost Prince Orloff more than fifty
times this sum when he bought it in Amsterdam to win back the
favor of the Empress Catherine.
The Regent lies in state, most lustrous and precious of the
gems of the old French crown. The slave who found it buried
in the bank of the Kistna River, A.D.
1701, cut his leg deeply to pouch
the stone in his flesh, and wrapped the
wound in a thick bandage. At the
first opening he ran away to the sea-
coast and found refuge on an English
merchant ship. But the lure of the
big diamond was too tempting to
the captain. When his ship was in the
open sea, he flung the slave overboard
to drown, and took the stolen diamond to sell to an Indian
merchant, from whom it passed to the governor of Fort St.
George, Thomas Pitt, grandfather of the great Earl of Chatham.
It was one of the largest of all known diamonds, the rough
stone weighing 410 carats, and Thomas Pitt would not suffer it
to be out of his sight or touch day or night, though he was
racked by the fear of thieves and murderers. While the alarm-
ful gem was in his keeping, it is said that he never slept twice
under the same roof, and moved from place to place in disguise,
at a moment's caprice, to cover his tracks. Fortunately for his
peace of mind, as well as his purse, he was able to sell his prize
for ^£135,000 to the Duke of Orleans, Regent of France in the
minority of Louis XV. (A.D. 1715-1723). So the splendid stone
made the fortune of the house of Pitt, and came to glitter in the
most prodigal and luxurious court of Europe. It was held by
the Bourbons until the French Revolution, and in 1792 it was
stolen by the robbers who carried off the Sancy and thrown into
30 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
a ditch in the Champs Elysees. Here it was picked up with other
plunder which the thieves did not dare to keep or offer for sale.
Then it was uplifted again to the French
crown and has held its place through
revolutions that have unmade kings and
emperors.
So it might be told how " The Flor-
entine " wandered from India through
Tuscany to the Austrian crown, — how
the " Piggott " saw Clive's conquests
(A.D. 1751-1767) and travelled to Eng-
land with the governor of Madras and
was crushed to powder by the dying Ali Pasha, — how the
" Star of the South " made its way from
the sands of Brazil to glitter on the
breast of the fantastic Gaikwak of Baroda
while he killed disagreeable people with
diamond dust, — and how banished con-
victs won their pardon from the Portu-
guese crown by the discovery of the
Braganza, the largest diamond, if genu-
ine, that the world ever saw.1 Thepiggott.
No one can say of a true diamond
story, " it is closed " ; for diamonds
outlast dynasties, and their wander-
ings may be on the verge of renewal
when they seem to be ended. " A
jewel may rest on an English lady's
arm that saw Alaric sack Rome, and
beheld before — what not ? The
The Star of the South.
1 " Great Diamonds of the World," Streeter. «< Diamonds," W. Pole,
London Archsological Trans., London, 1861. " Diamonds and Precious Stones,"
H. Emanuel, London, 1865. "Outlines of Mineralogy," J. Kidd, Oxford.
"Traite Complet des Pierres precieuses," Charles Barbot, Paris, 1838. "The
People of India," J. Forbes Watson and J. W. Kaye, Editors. " Gemmarum et
Lapidum Historia," etc., Boetius, 1647.
p of t!1
vulgar pro i
at the amph
the peacock
Armenian t.
last, come !
The
made
origif
been fouiv
I ^^V\
\ x\
i. 1 ne
ting the
at
1
:-in\J> MINIvi Oi- SOUTH AFRICA
yst'Ch. Here ;t was picked up with other
L-S '.ii-d not vitirc to ka -jr ortcr for sale.
Then it v\as uplifted i^.iin fo the French
h.is he :ts place through
?!-.;U h;i' v •, i a made kings and
Present weight, 133^ carats.
Weight before cutting, 254! carats;
present weight, 124^ carats.
^i^h*- he :•>!(! how " Tht Flor-
i troiii India through
-i.;uiy : > tiic AUS:.H.IM crown, — how
•• Fi^uo't ,aw Chve's conquests
and. travelled to Eng-
;nvernor of Madras and
t'asha. — how the
Present weight, 82^ carats.
Js," W. Pole,
c'.ious Stones,"
Kidd, Oxford.
i«;S. "The
• ( •••mmarum et
THE ANCIENT ADAMAS
31
treasures of the palaces of the Pharaohs and of Darius, or the
camp of the Ptolemies, come into Europe on the neck of a
vulgar pro-consul's wife to glitter at every gladiator's butchery
at the amphitheatre ; then pass in a Gothic ox-wagon to an Arab
seraglio at Seville; and so back to its native India, to figure in
the peacock throne of the Great Mogul; to be bought by an
Armenian for a few rupees from an English soldier, and so, at
last, come hither."
The illustrations of the historic diamonds shown in this chapter have been
made from photographs of facsimiles of the stones, and are the exact sizes of the
originals.
Dana and other mineralogists mention that diamonds in the form of cubes have
been found. While one might expect to find diamond crystals in cubic form, as
this is the fundamental form of the isometric system, still very few specimens have
come under my own observation, and none until within the past two years. De
Beers Company's Premier Mine has produced most of these, while a few are
reported as coming from Bultfontein. The usual form of these diamonds is a
cube with bevelled edges, representing the combination oo o 2 and oo o oo.
See illustration below.
CHAPTER II
IN TRADITIONAL OPHIR LAND
CHILD picking a shining pebble for a play-
thing from the gravel edging a river — was this
sport of blind chance the revelation of the mar-
vellous diamond fields of Africa ? In narrow
fact, yes ; but in a wider, truer range of view,
this discovery was the crown that sooner or
later must reward the search of daring adventurers and the push
of stubborn pioneers into the dark heart of the continent.
There was no chance in the strain of pluck that braved
strange perils to reach traditional Ophir and the pits of King
Solomon's mines, that wandered far in quest of the golden cities
of Monomotapa, that tore the wilderness from the clutch of the
lion and vulture, and beat back the frantic impis of Tchaka,
Dingaan, and Umsilikazi. The ardor and the toil and the
courage and the blood of ten generations of explorers were
spent before it was possible for a little child to play pitch and
toss with the pebbles of the Orange River and clasp a rough
diamond in his heedless hand.
Two dominant motives were fused with the high-spirited zeal
for exploration that so signally stamped the fifteenth century, —
the opening of an all-sea route to the Indies, and the grasp of
the riches of lands behind the veil. In the unknown there is
space for any vault of fancy, and in that romantic age her soaring
wings were rarely clipped. One may be moved to smile at the
fantastic visions of the men who found the southern waterway
to the Indies, and added a new world to the old ; but there will
be no sneer in the smile of any one who can measure his own
debt to experience, and put himself back five centuries to stand
- Of THE
UNWERS«TV
CALIFGr'
N^jV*, • .<<?£. * :•;• _v . /_ A^ -.. -v 4 • -'.-• •s ? \'^/<5^i
i -• >'>:'N'>; ': ;''';V/';:> -U-k-' • \ **^m-> i. ' ; :-i ^•^»=^- '-'/ ^V-" '• ''.
• •J^':-A'5 ^ ". : • v/'i; V . "'' .'; *^j , ',.--":^ •••",.
- ' '• ' *?>tt " /-v-' V?.^7:S^^-:' " (:
1 r-:^ y'---;^» - '
K/rf^^^:§^^^^ 1^ 7^ "T^ /
^J^^A^ v' v" > ^2-S*^- j^!:-^ . ' * /
••^y^-/-1';^^^ ;.?4 ":^". ' :*$i^:-^J '$JJI " Jl- \£&s tjivs-fK* ^~^T~~
m^, '-wP^/^/^-C ^^^> % v • rw/ // H^ ^-/
LiJ
- Aa
.
-
5 cj
9 % I <
w 'i < ^
u S
_ rt
6 c
U d)
§ -s
S -e
•a .-
2 *
~ D.
2 a
i ^
E S
3 U
HH O
05 (i
ft, «
O »
CL "o
U
":TY
IN TRADITIONAL OPHIR LAND
33
on the deck with Cam, Dias, and Da Gama, or the still more
greatly daring Columbus.
Visschcr's Map of Africa, A.D. 1662. (From a copy in the British Museum.) Reproduced
in English by Guiljelmo Blaeuw.
But who can to-day feel the hopes and fears that shook
those strong hearts ? Who can lay the course for their clumsy
caravels over the unknown stretches of ocean ? Who can sail
on with them day after day and night after night without a chart
34
THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
or buoy or beacon or surf-rocked bell ? Who can start from
fitful sleep to pierce the night with straining eyes or watch for
the glimmer of the dawn on sea-girt horizons ? Who can recall
their racking fears or the dazzling images ever forming and dis-
- ~
^^^M;^te£.J5*-:<
Visscher's Map of Africa, published A.I). 1662.
solving in the alembic of their fancy ? With every daybreak
the isles of Atlantis might spring into view, or gardens fairer
than the golden Hesperides, or monsters more horrific than
dragons, guarding hoards beyond the dreams of avarice, or, per-
BI.AEUW'S MAP OK AFRICA, PUBLISH!
Y-.tJh" i ."< x"5"9!S T
xr^jt^^
(From a copy in the British Museum.)
IN TRADITIONAL OPHIR LAND 35
chance, even the realms of some potentate accustomed to make
footstools of princes with stiffer necks than haughty Xerxes or
the terrible Tamburlane.
Amid the drift of such cloudy conceits there was one more
clearly shaped and persistent than the rest. Somewhere below
the equator, in the unknown expanse of Africa, tradition placed
the home of the Queen of Sheba, King Solomon's mines, and the
marvels of Ophir. Every adventurer skirting the South African
coast hoped to touch with certainty the shore of this delectable
country. The alluring recital in Kings and Chronicles glittered
before his eyes.1 In fancy he saw the gathering of the ships in
" Ezion-Geber, which is beside Eloth on the shore of the Red
Sea," and how this fleet came to Ophir and fetched from thence
gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to King
Solomon. He saw, too, the coming of the Queen of Sheba to
the king to prove him with hard questions, and the great train
that followed her with camels that bare spices and very much
gold and precious stones. Then it was told him how the queen
was overcome by Solomon's wisdom and grandeur until " there
was no more spirit in her," and she gave the king one hundred
and twenty talents of gold, and of spices very great store, and
precious stones. Following this tribute came the regular flow,
from Ophir to Judea, of gold and gems and almug trees in the
transports of Tyre. With such a fountain of supply, it was
easy to credit the wonderful tale of the targets and shields of
beaten gold, of the throne of ivory overlaid with gold, and of all
the other displays of Solomon's splendor. If the king's gold
made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones in the eyes of the
chronicler, it is not surprising that this vision came down
undimmed to the days of Da Gama.
But how to find the source of this flow was the puzzle that
faced the explorer. Unfortunately the old chroniclers had
omitted to give any landmarks of King Solomon's mines. Sur-
mise strayed down the eastern coast of Africa, and the close
commercial connection between southwestern Arabia and the
1 1 Kings ix., x ; 2 Chronicles viii., ix.
THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Outline Copy of the Catalan
(In the original the shore line has almost illegible names,
equatorial coast region of East Africa was unquestionable.
Herodotus declares that East Africa at its furthest known limits
supplied gold in great plenty as well as huge elephants and
ebony. The Alexandrian geographers mark rudely the East
African coast line to Zanzibar, and attest the relations between
IN TRADITIONAL OPHIR LAND
37
Mappermonde, 1375.
which, for the sake of clearness, have been omitted here.)
this coast and Arabia Felix. Eratosthenes observes that naviga-
tion extends down East Africa beyond Bab-el-Mandeb, " along
the myrrh country, south and east as far as the Cinnamon coun-
try, about five thousand stadia." Ptolemy, in the second cen-
1 Strabo, XVI, Chap. IV, 4.
38 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
tury A.D., describes quite accurately the east coast of Africa as
far as Zanzibar and Ras Mamba Mku. His information was
chiefly derived from Arabian merchants. But, as Schlechter has
closely pointed out in his admirable monograph,1 there is no
trace or hint anywhere during the Greek and Roman periods of
antiquity of any colony or emporium south of the Zanzibar
Outline Copy of the Portolano Laurenziano, 1351.
coast, and not long after the time of Herodotus the gold im-
ports of Arabia had shrunk to inconsiderable importance. With
the decline of the Himyaritic Kingdom in Arabia, soon after the
second century of our era, there was a falling off of commercial
enterprise and intercourse with Africa, so marked that even the
1 " Periplus of the Erythraean Sea," Henry Schlechter, The Geographical
Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, July, 1893.
EDRISI'S MAP, AO>. 1154.
ANDREA BIANCO'S MAP, A.D. 1436. VENICE.
IN TRADITIONAL OPHIR LAND
39
notable map of the Arabian Edrisi, in 1154 A.D., shows how
slight and vague was the advance in the knowledge of the Dark
Continent from the days of the Alexandrian geographers. Still
this old chart gives some substantial proof of the communica-
tion of Arabian traders with the natives on the East African
coast. But on this map the African coast appears to curve
Africa de Mappermonde, Juan de la Cosa, 1500. (This map was made only fourteen years after
the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope, and is one of the earliest known maps giving the
entire contour of Africa with approximate accuracy.)
east continuously from the mouth of the Red Sea, and Edrisi
was plainly ignorant of the abrupt trend to the south from Cape
Guar-da-fui. Yet he shows rudely the islands lying off the east
coast of Africa, and, south of Sokotra, traces the African main-
land in three divisions, Zendj (Zanzibar), Sofala, and Vakvak.
With all its imperfections this Arabian map was in advance
of any European portrayal of South Africa. It was the prevail-
ing belief in the Middle Ages, " bequeathed from antiquity," as
40 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Justin Winsor observes, that " owing to the impassable heats of
the torrid zone, it could not be discovered whether this region
were inhabited or whether land existed there." Map makers
plainly made the bounds of land and water beyond the equator
from sheer surmise, and the confession was commonly frank that
the land was terra incognita and the ocean a sea of darkness.
" Most famous of all these early maps " (of the Atlantic Ocean),
Dutch Ship of the XVIIIth Century.
says Winsor,1 " was the Catalan Mappermonde of 1375." It was
probably the one best known by the sailors sent out by Prince
Henry of Portugal, in the year 1413, to follow down the Atlan-
tic shore line of Africa. On this map, all known Africa is
bounded on the south by a line drawn eastward from Finisterra,
off the mouth of the Rio Del Oro, about 23° north of the
equator, nearly across the continent to the Egyptian Nile. In
the Portolano Laurenziano of 1351, the outline of Africa is given
1 " Narrative and Critical History of America," Vol. I, p. 55, Justin Winsor.
IN TRADITIONAL OPHIR LAND
Dutch Ships of the XVI Ith Century.
an approach to reality that is highly remarkable, but it is clearly
a happy stretch of guesswork.1
All of the region south of Cape Non was practically un-
known to the adventurers of the fifteenth century.2 Their ears
were filled with doleful tales of the calms and storms, the
Dutch Ships of the XVI Ith Century.
1 " Life of Prince Henry of Portugal, surnamed the Navigator, and its Results,"
R. H. Major, London, 1868.
2 Chief of the charts in the fifteenth century were those of Andrea Bianco,
"Atlas," 1436, and " Carta Nautica." Justin Winsor, "Narrative and Critical
History of America," Vol. I, p. 55.
42 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
mud-banks and the fogs, of the Sea of Darkness. If by any
stretch of daring they might cross the equatorial line, they were
Dutch Ship of the XVI Ith Century.
burdened with the fear that they would begin to slide down an
inclined plane with a rush that would pitch them headlong into
Dutch Ships of the XVIIth Century.
some bottomless abyss. The only assurance of a happier issue
was the bare tale of old Herodotus of some nameless Phoenician
IN TRADITIONAL OPHIR LAND
43
sailors who had skirted the coast south from the Red Sea in the
days of Pharaoh Necho (610—594 B.C.), and returned nearly
three years later through the Pillars of Hercules and the Medi-
terranean. These sailors brought back, with their load of ivory,
feathers, and gold, the report that during a considerable part of
this voyage they had the sun on their right hand. It is this
detail that now chiefly confirms the story, bat this was beyond
the credence of Herodotus,1 and it would seem that this ancient
mariner's tale was soon generally disbelieved, for the special
Dutch Ships of the XVI Ith Century.
searches made in the Alexandrian library by Eratosthenes and
Marinus of Tyre in the third and second centuries B.C. brought
to light no other records or traces of the voyage. So it was not
with reliance on this alleged circumnavigation that the adven-
turers of Portugal groped painfully for seventy years along the
coast, until the daring Dias set his stone crosses at Angra
Pequena and Algoa Bay and sighted the turning point of the
path to the Indies in the frowning Cabo de Todos los Tor-
mentos.2 King John was quick to see the promise in the land
1 " Herodotus," Bk. 4, 42, Rawlinson. ZA.D. 1486.
44 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
of Dias and change the Cape of Storms to Cabo de Boa Espe-
ranza, but ten years passed before Vasco da Gama followed
down the trail and rounded the Cape in the immortal voyage
that reached the long-sought Indies six years after Columbus
had touched the island hem of the new world.1
Dutch Ships of the XVIIIth Century.
The completed circling of Africa by European adventurers
was a no less memorable achievement of Da Gama. He touched
at Mozambique on the first of March, 1498, and there saw gold,
in the hands of Arabs, that had passed up the coast from Sofala.
Nearly twenty years before, a Portuguese courtier, Pedro de
Covilhao, had reached Sofala in an attempt to pass to India by
way of Egypt.2
For many years and possibly for many centuries there had
been a trickle of gold from Sofala through Arab traders, and
Da Gama saw enough of it to move his king to lay his hands
upon it. In the expedition of Cabral, which followed in the
wake of Da Gama in 1500, the great captain, Bartholemeu
1 " Prince Henry the Navigator," C. Raymond Beazley.
2 "The Portuguese in South Africa," George McCall Theal. " South Africa
from Arab Domination to British Rule," R. W. Murray, editor, London, 1891.
IN TRADITIONAL OPHIR LAND
45
Bias, was specially commissioned to seek the source of the
gold stream. Bias was drowned in the storm which sunk four
ships of this fleet, but Cabral took a vessel carrying gold from
Sofala and sailed to Kilwa, where the Arab Ibrahim and his
forefathers had been drawing gold from Sofala for a long term
of years. Upon the report of Cabral, Ba Gama turned out of
his way to Mozambique in his second voyage, in 1502, to enter
Sofala and take possession of Kilwa, and three years later Pedro
da Nhaya sailed from Lisbon with six ships and built a fort
and trading station at Sofala.
Behind this persistent push to Sofala there was more than
the actual showing of gold. Here was one of the traditional
gateways to King Solomon's mines, and the Portuguese were
quick to embrace the tradition. They gave the glittering name
of Ophir to their fort. South of the fort there runs a river,
called by the Arabs Sabi, and this was pounced upon as a
Dutch Ships of the XVIIIth Century.
probable twist of the old Hebrew Sheba. From those days
Fort Ophir was the starting point of Portuguese adventurers
in search of the fountain head of Solomon's treasures.
The Portuguese then had uncommonly sturdy sea-legs and
asked nobody to show them the way over the ocean foam, but
46 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
IN TRADITIONAL OPHIR LAND
47
they were far less ready to weary their legs with trudging over
mountain ridges or scrambling through the dense thickets of
the rugged land west of Sofala. The Arab traders were more
ready to venture inland, but there is no evidence to show that
any of them went farther than a few hundred miles, at most,
from the seacoast. It was an exceedingly difficult country to
penetrate, and the savage natives were jealous of any approach,
if they did not stubbornly bar the way and murder intruders.
* - \
B!S« I
5: ^^^mm./:^
V --' Dr
Macloutsie
Map showing the Position of Ancient Ruins in Rhodesia.
The horrid death of the first Portuguese viceroy was a warn-
ing that struck deep into the hearts of the earlier adventurers.
Francisco d' Almeida, returning with his fleet from India in
1510, touched the African coast near the first landing of Diaz.
To resent some little clash with the nearest native tribe he led
a troop of soldiers inland to surprise their village, but was way-
laid in the bush and his troop was put to flight by a hail of
darts and stones. D' Almeida put his ensign in the hand of a
trusty follower, but in the next moment he was stabbed in the
throat by an assagai and his head was crushed by the swing
48 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
of a knob kerrie. Sixty-five of his picked swordsmen fell with
him and the rest only saved their lives by abject flight, chased
to the shore by a little band of naked negro dwarfs.
This was the greeting of a weak and puny coast tribe. What
then might be feared from the rallying of the fierce and stalwart
blacks of the Bantu tribes, under some ruthless chief, in the
fastnesses of the mountain land encircling the gold of Ophir ?
Insiza Ruins.
Still there was an enticing trickle of gold dust and nuggets from
inland mines to Sofala, and the flow of resplendent stories was
vastly bigger than the golden stream in sight. So in 1569 it
was resolved to make an extraordinary effort to penetrate to the
source of the gold. The East African coast was placed under
command of a governor independent of the viceroy of India.
Francisco Barreto was made the first governor, with instructions
to raise a force of a thousand men and lead them on to the
capture of Ophir. The young cavaliers of Lisbon flocked
eagerly to Barreto's standard. He led the way up the Zambesi
with a high-spirited troop, but the gay soldiers were soon
IN TRADITIONAL OPHIR LAND
49
scorched by the sun, torn by thorns, and cast down by fevers.
The Kalangu tribe was then the strongest of any living between
the Sabi and Zambesi, and Barreto sought to win the good will of
its head chief by offering to beat his rival. This offer made him
Insiza Ruins.
welcome, and he kept his promise, but he was soon after obliged
to appoint Vasco Fernandez Homem to the command of his
troop and to return to the coast. Homem soon followed him
with the dispirited remnants of the adventurers. Barreto did
not live to see the return of his broken expedition, and Homem
50 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
succeeded him as governor. Then the new governor tried an-
other way of approach to the gold field, and finally pushed a party
through from Sofala to the foot of the mountain which the
Kalangu tribe called Fara and the Arabs Aufur, transmuted
forms, it was thought, of the Hebrew Ophir. Near the base
of this mountain were placers yielding nuggets worth from two
Insiza Ruins.
to three thousand dollars, but the ordinary toil of placer wash-
ing was so disgusting to the Portuguese visionaries that they
gloomily turned their backs on the mines of Abasia and the
rock mark of Ophir and wearily made their way back to Sofala.1
This disappointment dulled the glitter of some old stories, but
there were plenty of new ones to dazzle men's minds.
It is likely that the most accurate, as it certainly is the full-
est extant, account of the mining in Ophir land is given in the
story of the old Spanish author, Joano de Barros, whose life
spans the first three quarters of the sixteenth century.2 It is
too much to expect that his " Da Asia " should be free from
the coloring of the ardent fancy and the myths of the age, but
underlying his narrative there is, at most points, a credible
basis of personal observation and the current reports of many
witnesses. He held several high offices in the Indian and
D
1 "The Portuguese in South Africa," Theal. " Conferencias Celebradas na
Academia Real das Sciencias de Lisboa, Acerca dos Descobrimentos e Colonisa-
9068 dos Portuguezes na Africa." [At Lisbon, 1892.]
• "Da Asia," Joano de Barros (1496—1570).
IN TRADITIONAL OPHIR LAND 51
African establishments of Portugal, and had exceptional oppor-
tunities for preparing his remarkable memorial.
In his description the "mines of Manica" are placed "some
fifty leagues west of Sofala." The Portuguese league was 3.84
English miles, and De Barros was as loose as contemporary writ-
ers in the measure of distances. " All gold found there is in
dust," he writes, " and the workers have to carry the earth
which they dig to some place where water can be had. Nobody
digs more than six to seven spans deep (four to six feet), and if
they go to twenty, they come to hard rock."
Beyond the Manica placers, in positions not defined, were
the mines of Boro and Quiticui. There nuggets were found
Khami Ruins.
" embedded in reefs — some already cleared by the winter tor-
rents ; hence, in some of the pools, such as remain in summer,
the miners dig down and find much gold in the mud brought
up. In other localities, where are some lagoons, two hundred
men set at work to drain off about half the water, and in the
mud which they sift they also find gold, and so rich is the
52 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
ground, that if the people were industrious, great quantities
could be had ; but they are so indolent that stress of hunger
alone will keep them at work. Hence Moors (Arabs) who
visit those districts
have recourse to a
ruse to make them
diligent. They cover
the negro men and
women with clothes,
beads, and trinkets in
which they delight,
and when all are
pleased trust every-
thing to them, telling
Khami Ruins.
(.Jlem
the mines, and on their return, they can pay for those advances ;
so that in this way, by giving them credit, they oblige them to
work, and so truthful are the negroes that they keep their word.
" Other mines lie in the district called Toroa, ruled by a vas-
sal of Benomotapa. These are the oldest known in that region.
They are in a plain, in
the middle of which
stands a square fortress,
all of dressed stones,
within and without, well
wrought and of marvel-
lous size, without any
lime showing the join-
ings. The walls of this
fortress are over twenty-
^^^^•^llf5^ *9S&
'
Gold Ornaments found in Ancient Ruins.
five spans high (18 to 19
feet) but the height is not so great compared with the thickness.
And above the gateway of that stronghold there is an inscrip-
tion which some learned Moorish traders who were there could
not read nor say what writing it was. And around this build-
ing are others on some heights, like it in the stonework, in
IN TRADITIONAL OPHIR LAND
53
which is a tower twelve bracas (72 feet) high. All these struc-
tures the people of the country call Symbaoe, which with them
means a royal residence. They stand west of Sofala, under
latitude 20° and 21° south, one hundred and seventy leagues
more or less in a straight line. ... In the opinion of the
Moors who saw them, they seemed to be very ancient and were
Khami Ruins.
built there to hold possession of those mines, which are very old,
from which for years no gold has been taken owing to the wars."
The latitude and position of the Symbaoe of De Barros cor-
respond closely with the site of the ruins of Zimbabwe, described
three hundred years later by the explorer Karl Mauch. Both
Zimbabwe and its antique form, Symbaoe, are plainly versions
of the local Bantu nzimba-mbuie, a house of the chief. It is
true that the Zimbabwe of Mauch is only two hundred and forty
miles west of Sofala, but the leagues of the old chroniclers were
not laid off with the tape line.
54 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Who was this Benomotapa whose vassal was housed in such a
castle ? — the mighty black sovereign of whom Camoens sings —
" Ve do Benomotapa o grande imperio,
De Salvatica gente, negra e nua."
In dull fact Benomotapa was simply the corrupted plural
form of Monomotapa, signifying Lord of the Mountain, or by
a possible stretch of derivation, Master of the Mines.1 This
was one of the hereditary titles of the head chief of the Kalangu
Khami Ruins.
tribe, the largest and strongest of any then living between the
Sabi and Zambesi. His dwelling was at the foot of Mount
1 "The Portuguese in South Africa," George McCall Theal.
Bent says the name Monomotapa should be written Muene-matapa, or " lord
of Matapa," simply " a dynastic name, just as every petty chief in Mashonaland
to-day has his dynastic name, which he takes on succeeding to the chiefdom."
"The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland," p. 285. Both titles have in fact the same
meaning : the first components bena and mono being the still current Bantu words
bwana, bana, muene, mwana, that is 'lord,' 'master,' 'chief,' 'ruler.' The
second part, motapa, common to both, probably means a mine, from the Bantu
word tapa='to dig,' 'excavate.' "Africa," Vol. II, p. 372. (Stanford's
Compendium.) A, H, Keane.
IN TRADITIONAL OPHIR LAND
55
Aufur, which was held in such traditional reverence that the
chief would not permit the Portuguese to ascend it. There was
nothing of imposing
splendor in the huts
of the chief who re-
ceived the embassy
of Francisco Barreto,
but no lack of evi-
dence could prevent
romance from creat-
ing an African em-
pire under the sway
of Monomotapa.
Some corner-stones
for this structure were
found in the remains
of the works of a
people of far higher
civilization than any
of the existing native
tribes, and these relics
were prizes to a fancy
that clutched greedily at every drifting straw of report, tradition,
and myth supplied by Arabs and negroes.
Every one in the suc-
cession of romancers, in
the sober cloak of histo-
rians, of South Africa
would outdo his forerun-
ners in inflating the bal-
loon of the traditional
empire. The old Dutch
writer, Kleveer, finally
puffed it up to the bursting limit by bounding it " on the
east, south, and west by the Atlantic, and north by the king-
doms of Congo, Abyssinia, and the Zanzibar country. Even
Zimbabwe Ruins.
Zimbabwe Ruins.
56 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Dapper,1 whose really great work is by far the most important,
comprehensive, and creditable presentation of the Africa of the
seventeenth century, jots down gravely most fantastic details of
the empire ruled by the royal line of Monomotapa. He paints
a mammoth palace with four grand gateways leading to a succes-
sion of halls and chambers, rivalling the handiwork of the slaves
of the lamp of Aladdin. All the ceilings of the rooms were gilt
or covered with golden plates. For the furnishing of sumptuous
. ,
M«^^
"
Zimbabwe Ruins.
couches and chairs there was gilding and painting in rainbow hues
and artful inlaying with enamel. Ivory chandeliers, hanging on
silver chains, filled these resplendent halls with light. When his
majesty deigned to rise from his imperial bed, he was clothed by
his valets in garments of native silk. All his servants approached
him on bended knees and served him like dumb slaves. His
table service of the finest porcelain was decorated with wreaths of
gold, cunningly wrought in the fantastic forms of natural coral.
1 " Naukeurige Beschrijringe der Afrikaensche Gewesten," etc., Dr. O. Dap-
per, Amsterdam, 1668.
IN TRADITIONAL OPHIR LAND
57
Zimbabwe Ruins.
Two pounds of gold was daily spent in perfume for the royal
nose, and torches of incense flamed day and night around him.
When he took an airing, he was borne in a gorgeous palanquin
on the shoulders of four of his trembling nobles, and his head
was shielded from the profaning sun by a canopy studded with
precious stones. If he was impatient of this slow promenade, he
Zimbabwe Ruins.
58 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
might mount on an elephant's back, but on nothing meaner, for
nobody in that wonderful country would ride on any other animal.
It is small wonder that the court of monarchs of this splen-
dor, and their golden cities of Davaque and Vigiti Magna, were
ardently hunted for by adventurers, thirsty for every romance
gilding the dismal stretches of sand and thickets and rocks
which encircled them with the threads of a trail to the glittering
realm of Monomotapa. But the expeditions of Barreto and
Homem were so painful, costly,
and discouraging that for many
years no more explorations were
undertaken by the Portuguese
crown. The spirit of chivalric
adventure drooped low after the
gallant young king Sebastian
fell in battle with the Moors
in 1578, and even the spirit
that had so greatly spread the
commerce of Portugal was los-
ing its vigor. There was a
momentary arousal in the be-
ginning of the seventeenth cen-
tury, when some rich silver ore
was sent to Lisbon by the
governor of Mozambique. It
was believed that this ore came
from veins in a region called the
Kingdom of Chicova, stretch-
ing north from the bank of the Zambesi: but there was no
o
definite report of the location. Still there was such an impulse
in the sight of this silver that the order was sent to despatch
five hundred soldiers to Chicova. No such force could be
mustered, but Nuno Alvares Pereira set out from Mozambique
with a hundred men. Soon Pereira was the victim of jeal-
ous maligning, and was superseded in his command by Diogo
Sinoes Madeira. This commander succeeded in placing a few
Zimbabwe Ruins.
IN TRADITIONAL OPHIR LAND
59
trading stations along the Zambesi, and made a pretence of
opening mines by shipping some little silver to Portugal ; but
Zimbabwe Ruins.
after a dozen years of costly maintenance, it was shown by the
search of Pereira that the pretended discovery of silver was a
Zimbabwe Ruins.
fraud, and disgusted Portugal abandoned the enterprise in I622.1
1 "The Portuguese in South Africa," Theal.
6o THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
From that year nothing of note was attempted from the
stretch of seaboard loosely held by a few feeble garrisons.
Beyond the vague traditions and romances there were no guide-
books to the rich realm of any African monarch, and there was
no point on the South African coast outside of the Portuguese
strip where the least enticement was shown to any visiting ship.
Nowhere was there any evidence of an approach to civiliza-
tion, and there was not even the gilding of barbarism. The
shore tribes
were filthy,
famine-hunted
negroes, who
had, at most, a
little ivory or
a handful of
feathers to bar-
ter for trinkets.
There was an
intermixture of
blood and a
medley of
tribes and tribal
names that
confounds any tracing of distinction beyond a few blurred divi-
sional lines.
When the Dutch and English began to tread upon the heels
of the Portuguese in Africa, in the opening years of the seven-
teenth century, the tribes of the extreme south and along the
southwesterly Atlantic coast might be roughly grouped under the
name of Hottentots, or, as they called themselves with monstrous
conceit, Kwa-Kwa, men of men. In this assertion there is
plainly to be seen the origin of the Arabic Vakvak, the name
sketched in by Edrisi on his map beyond Sofala. The south-
east African coast was held by tribes of the wide-spreading
Bantu family, lumped together by the Arabs as Kafirs. Filtered
in between the Bantus and Hottentots were the pigmy Sana,
Zimbabwe Ruins.
IN TRADITIONAL OPHIR LAND
61
rudely bunched as Bushmen.1 There was endless wrangling
and fighting among the tribes, regardless of any common flow
of blood, and the Bantus and Hottentots were continually clash-
ing like wildcats. Their only union was in their hate of the
Bushmen, who were hunted
from cover to cover, to hide
in crevices in the rocks or in
holes in the desert sand, from
which they might sally, wasp-
like, with the deadly sting
of their poison-tipped arrows.
In view of the repulsive
face of the South African
coast lands it is not surpris-
ing that Francis Drake and
many other bold voyagers
circled the Cape of Good
Hope without landing to
seek for traditional treasures.
But with the opening of the
seventeenth century, Table The Old East India House- Leadenhaii street,
' London.
Bay became a regular stop-
ping place and refitting station for the ships of the English East
India Company. For twenty years this slight hold on the con-
tinent was maintained, but it was so lightly prized that it was
dropped in 1620 by a shift of the station to St. Helena. Thirty-
two years later the Dutch East India Company took formal
possession of the Cape and its adjoining bay without any chal-
lenging protest, and built their fort Good Hope as the first
stronghold of the Dutch dominion in southern Africa. With
this foundation the search for the golden realm of Monomotapa
was vigorously and persistently revived.
Jan van Riebeeck, the leader of the Dutch colonizing expe-
dition and the first commandant of the fort and settlement at
1 "South Africa," George McCall Theal, London, 1888-1893.
African Tribes," Sutherland.
f< South
62 THE DIAiMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Cape Town, was a man of ardent spirit and uncommon energy.
He had entered the company's service as a surgeon's assistant,
but his ambition and ability had soon pushed him to the front
and marked him as a man to fix and strengthen the grip of the
great trading company on the turning-point of the way to the
Indies. In his portrait dark, sanguine eyes are set under a
high, full forehead, crowned with thick waving hair of a cavalier
cut, in keeping with his trim mustache. His well-moulded
features and resolute chin have the stamp of refinement as well
as action. He quickly put his hand to every practical device to
make the new settlement productive and self-supporting. Nine
months after his landing the first crop of wheat was reaped at
the Cape. In the following year he set out vines from the
Rhine. In his own vineyard the muscatel grape grew luxuri-
The Landing of van Riebeeck, 7th April, 1652.
antly, and a few years later he made the first Cape wine, a high-
flavored Constantia. In the same year, 1658, maize was brought
to the colony from the coast of Guinea and successfully planted.
To the introduction of the olive, particularly urged by the direc-
tors of his company, he gave unremitting pains, and succeeded
in rearing a fine grove of fruitful trees on his own plantation at
Wynberg. In his stretch of experiment he even tamed young
ostriches and stocked the neighboring islands with rabbits.1
Such a man was not likely to be heedless of the chances for
*" South Africa," Theal. "On Veld and Farm," Frances MacNab,
London, 1897.
IN TRADITIONAL OPHIR LAND
the possible enrichment of his company by penetrating to the
seat of the traditional empire and possibly to King Solomon's
mines. He reckoned that, in any event, his exploring parties
would be likely to succeed in uncovering ore beds of some use-
ful metal, if not of gold and silver. But he seems to have had
great confidence in the traditions of Monomotapa, and it is
known that he had before him the highly colored work of
the Dutch traveller and author, Linschoten, as well as current
Portrait of Johan Antonyse van Riebeeck.
First Commandant of the Cape of Good
Hope. Born 1618, died January 18,
1672.
Portrait of Maria de la Querellerie of Que-
rellerius, Wife of Johan Antonyse van
Riebeeck. Born October 28, 1629, died
November 2, 1664.
Portuguese books infused with the romance of Africa. His
calculation plotted the location of Davaque, the chief seat of
the splendors of Monomotapa, at a point 828 miles N.E. of
the Cape of Good Hope, and 322 miles W. from the Indian
Ocean, curiously near the present Witwatersrand. Davaque
was built by tradition on the banks of the river Spirito Sanctu,
flowing into the Indian Ocean at Delagoa Bay. Nearer still
to the Cape was another El Dorado, the city of Vigiti Magna,
which was confidently located on or near the meridian of 30° S.,
and not much more than three hundred miles from the Cape.
64 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
The first push into the unknown land north of Fort Good
Hope was made in 1657 by a little party headed by Abraham
Gabbema, Fiscal, and Secretary of the Council of the colony.
Gabbema led the way to the first big beacon in sight, a peak
with a grotesque flat top which the colonists had already chris-
tened Klapnuits, or night cap mountain. Skirting the base of
this peak he pushed to the next conspicuous landmark, bearing
toward the west, a mountain with bare rugged pinnacles of rock,
which the explorers dully called Great Berg, and gave the same
name to the river flowing below.
Wine Cellar, Groot Constantia.
It was in the middle of October when the party set out, but
this was the prime of the springtime in South Africa. On the
lower slopes of the Great Berg herds were grazing that had
never seen the face of a white man nor felt the sting of a bullet.
o
Zebras capered over the hillsides, the unwieldy rhinoceros wal-
lowed in the high grass, and hippopotami plunged and snorted
in the turbid rivers. Every step of the way was a new wonder-
ment to the explorers, and when the rising sun struck the moun-
tain tops with its flame, two transfigured peaks gleamed like
prodigious gems in their eyes, and were forthwith distinguished
IN TRADITIONAL OPHIR LAND 65
as Paarl and Diamant. These sunlit crests were the only things
in sight, however, that had any glitter of the realm of Mono-
motapa, and after a little further advance into the unknown field,
Gabbema's party turned back.
The next excursion was more daring. By promising rich
rewards van Riebeeck formed a party of thirty volunteers headed
by Jan Danckert. They took along a small stock of bread on
three pack oxen, relying for their main supply of food on the game
which they might kill on their way. These hardy volunteers
plodded north, inclining to the west along the foot of the coast
range. They saw whirlwinds of dust and a few roving Bushmen,
but nowhere any trace of a monarchy except what they called " A
Kingdom of Moles," where the burrowed ground sank under
their feet and they could hardly flounder along. In December
they reached a river flowing toward the Atlantic, on whose far-
ther shore they saw a herd of more than two hundred elephants
feeding. So they called the stream Olifants River, a name
which it has borne since that day, and trudged back wearily to
tell their story to the commandant at the Cape. Within ten
days after their return, January 20, 1661, van Riebeeck, the un-
tiring, mustered another party, of thirteen adventurers and two
Hottentot attendants, and sent them away on the track of the
discoverers of Olifants River.
Corporal Pieter Cruythof led off this party, which succeeded
in crossing the river of the elephants and reaching the land of
the Namaquas, a Hottentot tribe of the highest class. Here the
explorers found natives who had rude copper ornaments twisted
in tufts of their hair, and wore rings of copper and ivory on
their arms. They entertained the white visitors with cheering
hospitality and gave a grand dance in honor of the embassy.
This was the nearest approach to the civilization of the tra-
ditional empire that had hitherto been reached by Dutch ex-
ploration, and the return of the adventurers on March n,
1 66 1, after forty days' wandering, was warmly welcomed by van
Riebeeck.
Before two weeks had passed he had another excursion under
66 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
way led by Corporal Meerhoff, which penetrated into Namaqua-
land farther than any white man had ever gone, but brought
back bitterly discouraging reports. It was learned that the
Namaquas had uncovered some veins of copper and iron ore
and had some crude process of smelting and working both
metals, but it did not appear to be practicable to undertake to
open mines at points so far from the Cape in a region that for
many months in the year was a torrid desert. There was no
trace of gold or rumor even of any distant land of gold. Over
every day's march was the hanging terror of death by thirst or
hunger or savage attack.
Still the unflagging commandant would not give up the
search, and in the following November Corporal Meerhoff
went back with another party of volunteers to Namaqualand, as
second in command under Sergeant Pieter Everaert. This
expedition was better equipped for exploration than any previ-
ous one that had set out from the Cape, and it was three months
before it returned to the Fort. Yet it had nothing new to
tell — only to repeat the same dreary story of painful tramps
over sun-scorched sands and jagged ridges of rock, of blinding
whirls of dust and the blare and clash and drench of terrific
thunder-storms, of sleep broken by nightly alarms, of lurking
Bushmen and prowling lions. One of the party had been gored
and trampled to pulp by an elephant, and his comrades counted
themselves lucky in reaching the Cape fort empty-handed,
gaunt, and footsore.
Even after this sickening rebuff, the next year saw a renewal
of the attempt to reach the elusive empire of Monomotapa.
Then Sergeant Jonas de la Guerre set out with a little troop of
adventurers not yet disheartened. But they were not able to
push their search into Namaqualand as far as former explorers
had gone, for they could not find a mouthful of water in the
desert sands, and were in imminent peril of dying from thirst.
This repulse was a crushing blow to the stubborn spirit that had
borne so many buffets. The enterprising van Riebeeck had
been transferred to the government of Java in the previous year,
IN TRADITIONAL OPHIR LAND 67
and his successor was a man of much fainter heart and energy.
So for nearly a score of years the search for the traditional
empire lagged, although there was a considerable show of less
venturesome prospecting. One notable undertaking was the
despatch of a party of expert assayers and miners from the
Netherlands to Cape Town in 1669 by the Dutch East India
Company, with instructions to search for any promising outcrops
of ore in the region of the Cape. This party prospected for
several years, but found nothing to inspire any investment in
mining.1
A revival of the dazzling old visions came in 1681, with the
appearance at the Cape of a party of Namaquas bearing pieces
of rich copper ore. This exhibit spurred the East India Com-
pany to direct another exploration of Namaqualand. Then the
commandant at the Cape was a man of the stamp of van Rie-
beeck, commander Simon van der Stel.2 He was quick to
despatch a company of thirty soldiers, a draughtsman, and a
reporter to make the venture so often tried in vain. Again, after
months of struggle, the desert drove them back. Van der Stel
then resolved to make an effort far surpassing any put forth
before by adventurers from the Cape. He formed a party of
forty-two white men, soldiers, miners, and draughtsmen, with ten
Hottentot servants and guides. The expedition was provisioned
for four months, and equipped with two boats, a train of wagons,
several horses, and a herd of pack oxen. Ensign Olaf Bergh
was put in command and led his company on to Namaqualand.
But it was the same old story. No strength of men or oxen
availed against the desert. No rain had fallen in the wilderness
north of the Olifants River for twelve months, and the whole
region was an arid waste without a trickle of moisture. So
Bergh and his companions faced about in despair, and marched
back to report their failure. Sergeant Izaak Schuyver and
another forlorn-hope party tried their luck in the following
year, and pushed over the desert a little farther than Bergh, but
brought nothing back except a sack of copper ore on a pack ox.
1 "South Africa," Theal, Vols. I and 2.
2 Commander from I2th October, 1679, to 1st June, 1691.
68 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
As a last resort the unflinching commander van der Stel
resolved to head an exploring party himself. He obtained
special permission from the directors of the East India Com-
pany, and his expedition was ordered in keeping with his distinc-
tion as the head of the Dutch power at the Cape, and with the
labors and perils of the venture. He left the Castle of Good
Hope, August 25, 1685, with fifty-six white followers and a
troop of Hottentot attendants. Twenty-three wagons and carts
were packed with supplies. Besides the draught teams, there
were two hundred spare oxen, thirteen horses, and eight mules.
For the dignity and comfort of the commander there was a
coach, but this touch of parade was chiefly introduced to impress
the native tribes and possibly a negro emperor with the grandeur
of the sovereignty despatching such an embassy.
The time of year chosen for the start was precisely the same
as that picked for the expedition of Bergh two years before, but
the difference in the face of the country would amaze any one
who had never seen the magic of rain-falls on South African
deserts. Fresh, juicy grass and vernal flowers were sprouting
from a soil of seemingly lifeless sand. Birds were building
their nests in the leafy thickets, insects were creeping or buzzing
in swarms, and a myriad of butterflies were fluttering their gay
wings over the green sward and blossoms. After years of
drought there had come a season of heavy rains. The arid
sands were soaked, torrents foamed through the windings of
the dry water-courses, and the region north of Olifants River,
which had been an impassable barrier to so many explorers, was
quite easily penetrated by the cumbrous procession of van der
Stel. Van der Stel's first farm, " Constantia," was near Wyn-
berg, where he resided until he resigned and retired to his estate,
" Vergelegen." The fine old houses, " Constantia " and " Verge-
legen," are still some of the landmarks of these sturdy old Dutch
settlers. They planted avenues of oaks, camphor trees, and
pines, which to-day tend to make Cape Town and its environs
one of the most charming spots on the face of the earth. The
old picture of van der Stel's house, " Vergelegen," shows it
•
90fl9bia9i
.§130
JINKS OF SOUTH AFRICA
unflinching commander van der Stel
i.-ring party him -c it". He obtained
- directors of the Fast India Com-
\vi ; ordered in keeping with his distinc-
p iwer at the Cape, and with the
He left the Cast Is of Good
rh fifty-six white followers and a
Twenty-three wagons and carts
ik.>!des tlie draught teams, there
en horses, and eight mules.
."inturt ! tiu' ">unander there was a
ot parade was icri\ introduced to impress
'• possibly a negro empi r with the grandeur
i.:es|utching such an embassy.
v-hosen tor t'u- start w^. precisely the same
.xpc.lri'.n of Itr f-\rs before, but
Farmhouse on the Farm Groot Cohstahtist.'rtear Wynberg. The first residence
of Simon van der Stel, and now owned by the Cape Government. Tfifen
farm is celebrated for its wine.
-cein.nu;'^ lifeless sand. H-.-.ls were building
:itv thvkcrs, insects wen: < reeping or buzzing
•'.•rterrlies w-cre fluttering their gay
•-• .irti and blossoms. After years of
.0 ison of heavy rains. The arid
M';ik' • — f'-'amed through r . *jgs of
i ti: region north « River,
barrier to so n\ rers, was
cumbrous pr uf van der
rst farm, *' C"onsran:\. > near Wyn-
liv- rcsi^Mcd ar.d i. -'.;•, d to his estate,
•>ld houses, "( on>rantia " and " Verge-
udmarks of th^se sturdy old Dutch
or oaks, camphor trees, and
,l;u tend fo tn.ike C. .qn1 Tou n anJ its environs
•• harmincr ^pors or the f;uv of the earth. The
•>- in der Sre!\ house, 4l' \\r^c-i"-jen," shows it
"'X
IN TRADITIONAL OPHIR LAND
69
partly hidden by a huge camphor tree, which measures nine feet
in diameter.
As the expedition advanced, it found various promising
showings of copper ore, and the croppings were particularly rich
in a range lying a little below the meridian of 30° S., where one
peak was singled out as " copper mountain." Van der Stel had
succeeded in reaching the line of the supposed location of the
golden city of Vigiti Magna, and he pushed his search along
Vergelegen.
this line to the Atlantic, but he could nowhere pick up a trace
of the traditional city or any other vestige of the realm of
Monomotapa. He did not even meet with any strange mon-
sters or romantic adventures, except perhaps the charge of a
huge rhinoceros, which upset his coach and forced him to fly for
his life. After six months of travel his notable exploring party
came back to the Cape, without any tidings of good cheer to
the founders of the colony. The only relic of the tradition of
empire left in the lands it had traversed was the attaching of the
name of Vigiti Magna to the great river first shown on any map
in the chart of this exploration. It had found rich copper ore
in Namaqualand, but the deposits were too far from the base
70 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
of transportation and supply to warrant the undertaking of
mining.1
Van der Stel was fitly rewarded, four years later, by an ap-
pointment as the first governor of the Cape Colony, in recog-
nition of his exploring enterprise and other displays of energy ;
but his pricking of the painted bubble of Vigiti Magna was a
bitter disappointment to the Dutch East India Company, and a
grievous thing to all adventurers filled with the conceit of a cen-
tury of tradition. It was true that Davaque or some other glit-
tering city might lie farther to the east and north than any point
yet reached by Dutch explorers, but with the growing familiarity
with the land and natives of southern Africa there was a swelling
discredit of the fine tales of the Dutch and Portuguese roman-
cers. The myth of the realm of Monomotapa was practically
starved to death at the close of the seventeenth century, and
unfortunately the greatly persistent daring of the Dutch explor-
ers grew cold with its impulse. When adventurers began to
disbelieve in the marvellous empire and even doubt the location
of the mines of Solomon and the throne of Sheba, there was no
very potent lure in the dusty karroos and rocky ravines of South
Africa* No discovery of ore, except possibly of the precious
metals, was likely to be of any reward to a prospector, and it
was even questionable whether rich veins of gold or silver could
be successfully opened and worked at any considerable dis-
tance beyond the narrow range of the Dutch settlement at the
Cape.
So the credulous search for Ophir and the mythical realms in
Africa came to an end, and for more than one hundred and fifty
years there was little life in the tradition of King Solomon's
mines, until its embers were rekindled by the daring advances
and glowing fancies of the intrepid explorer, Karl Mauch. In
1858 Mauch marked the Lydenburg district as a probable gold-
1 "South Africa," George McCall Theal, Vol. I, pp. 370-380.
These copper mines came into possession of an English company known as
the Cape Copper Company in 1853, since which time copper to the value of
^11,000,000 has been produced.
IN TRADITIONAL OPHIR LAND
71
field, and in 1871 he won the honor of reaching and first clearly
describing the extraordinary ruins of Zimbabwe and its adjacent
gold-fields. Unfortunately for his credit as an archaeologist he
insisted on the fancy that the old building on the hill was a copy
of King Solomon's temple on Mount Moriah and that the lower
ruins reproduced the palace inhabited by the Queen of Sheba
during her stay of several years in Jerusalem.1 This does not
impair, however, the probable accuracy of his main contention
Boschendal.
that he had revealed part of the ancient workings of the people
who furnished the flow of gold to Arabia and Judaea in the days
of King Solomon.2
^'The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland," J. Theodore Bent, London,
1896.
2 " It was really (Adam) Renders who first discovered these ruins three
years before Mauch saw them, though Mauch and Baines first published them to
the world, and they only described what the old Portuguese writers talked of
hundreds of years ago." E. A. Maund, " Geo. Proc.," February, 1891,
p. 105.
72 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Entrance to Boschendal.
The extent of these old workings has been proved beyond
doubt by the reports of Hartley, Mauch, Baines, Nelson, and
later explorers, and a precise and graphic study of Zimbabwe and
other ancient structures
in Mashonaland was
made in 1891-92 by J.
Theodore Bent and his
associates in the expedi-
tion chiefly promoted by
the Royal Geographical
Society, the British Char-
tered Company of South
Africa, and the British
Association for the Ad-
vancement of Science. Bent's expedition located Zimbabwe in
latitude 20° 16' 30" south, longitude 31° 7' 30" east; slightly
differing from the position given by Mauch.1 Bent holds that
Zimbabwe is of Abantu origin and may be freely translated
" Here is the great kraal,"
meaning the kraal of the
native head chief of the dis-
trict. This name, however,
marked only the native occu-
pation of the buildings, and
Bent sees in the ancient ruins
and workings " evidence of a
cult known to Arabia and
Phoenicia alike, temples built
on accurate mathematical prin-
ciples, containing kindred
objects of art, methods of
producing gold known to
have been employed in the ancient world, and evidence of a
vast population devoted to the mining of gold."
1 " List of Stations in Mashonaland astronomically observed, with Altitudes,"
by Robert M. W. Swan.
Boschendal.
IN TRADITIONAL OPHIR LAND
73
74
THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Lekkerwijn.
Without entering into the varied researches supporting the
views of Schlechter, Keane, and other leading authorities, it may
be observed that the main conclusions pithily summarized by
Professor Keane are strongly
backed. Ophir was not a
source of gold, but its dis-
tributer, as the port on the
south coast of Arabia through
which the flow of gold came
by sea. It is identified with
the Moscha or Portus Nobilis
of the Greek and Roman
geographers.
Havilah was the land
whence came the gold of
Ophir, a great tract in
southeastern Africa, lying
north of the Limpopo and largely identified with the range of
the modern Rhodesia. The ancient gold workings of this region
were first opened by
the South Arabian
Himyarites, who
were followed (but
not before the time
of Solomon) by the
Phoenicians, and
these very much later
by the Moslem
Arabs. Tharshish
was the outlet for
the precious metals
and stones of Havi-
lah, and stood probably on the present site of Sofala. The
Queen of Sheba came by land and not ovef the seas to the
court of Solomon. Her kingdom was Yemen, the Arabia Felix
of the ancients.
Lekkerwijn. (Back view.)
IN TRADITIONAL OPHIR LAND
75
Bien Donne, Drakensteiti.
In a word, the "Gold of Ophir" came from Havilah
(Rhodesia), and was worked and brought thence first by the
Himyarites (Sabaeans and
Minseans), later by the Phoe-
nicians, the chief ports engaged
in the traffic being Ezion-geber
in the Red Sea, Tharshish in
Havilah, and midway between
the two, Ophir in South
Arabia.1
For sixty years from the
opening of the eighteenth cen-
tury there was no considerable
exploration, or even prospect-
ing of any consequence, in the
region north of the meridian
o
passing through the Olifants
River. Yet even in this ap-
'A. H. Keane.
Monomotapa, The Hon. A.Wilmot, 1896.
Overmantel and Old Dutch Relics. (Lekkerwijn.)
THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Bien Donn6, Drakenstein.
parent cessation of enterprise there was a continuous progress,
almost essential to the successful advance of later exploration.
The Dutch settlement at the Cape was expanding. Year after
year pioneer settlers pushed out farther from the Castle, moving
up the river valleys, and cling-
ing at first to the base of hill
ranges where the essential sup-
ply of water was most surely
attainable. After the taking up
of the choice locations, later
comers passed on over the open
veld, and it was seen that there
were large tracts of land, un-
suited to agriculture, which
would serve well as ranges for
cattle and shee^>.
For many years, however,
the raising of wheat was of prime
Donne, Urakenstein. importance in the eyes of the
IN TRADITIONAL OPHIR LAND
77
Dutch farmers ; for this product fetched the highest price rela-
tively, and any surplus was eagerly called for by ships that
touched at the Cape or by the
demand for the supply of East
Indian settlements. In 1685
the first export of grain was
shipped, and strenuous efforts
were made to extend the area
of land in cultivation. A bo-
tanic garden had been one of
the early undertakings of the
company, to serve as a nursery
for European, East Indian, and
native plants, and under the
direction of Commander van der
Stel this nursery was made the
pride of the Cape as an exhibit
as well as a very serviceable
source of supply of seeds and
plants for the garden and farm lands. The growth of the olive
had been particularly urged, and it seemed at first to be likely
to flourish, but the
success of the grove
of van Riebeeck was
not attained by plant-
ers generally. There
was a considerable
advance in vine plant-
ing and the produc-
tion of wine, and in
1672 the distillation
of brandy was begun.
Doorway, Palmeit Vallei. Jt was hoped that the
Cape wine could be made an export of consequence, but the taste
of the Dutch planters preferred a sweet, strong fermentation to
clear, light wines, and they lacked the skill or the strong desire
Farm House, Klein Drakenstein.
THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
to modify their product to compete with French vine growers.1
So the only considerable consumption of Cape wine, outside of
the colony, was
from the crews of
visiting vessels.
There was no
lagging on the
part of the East
India Company in
efforts to stimu-
late the industries
of their colony.
Upon the revoca-
tion of the edict
(Oct.
A Wine Farm at Klein Drakenstein.
28, 1685) by Louis XIV., the steadfast Huguenots were forced
to seek new homes in foreign lands, and many were cordially
encouraged and aided to pass over sea to the young Cape Colony.
Muller's Farm, Achter Paarl.
Their expert knowledge of the growth of the vine and olive was
highly valued, and it was also desired to bring in tanners, har-
1 " On Veld and Farm," Frances MacNab.
IN TRADITIONAL OPHIR LAND
79
Dutch Farm House.
ness makers, wheelwrights, metal workers, and other artisans of
essential service to the spreading settlements of farmers. In
the allotments of land special care was taken to distribute
the influx of foreign blood
so that it must necessarily
fuse with the main body of
settlers. This design was so
well carried out that in a few
generations the only abso-
lutely distinct survival of
this Huguenot migration was
the perpetuation of the old
French family names. But
the combination of these two
strong strains of blood made
a compound of remarkable
character.
Besides this promoted Muller's Farm, Achter Paarl.
8o
THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
immigration of men
there was an equally
shrewd effort on the
part of the company to
advance the breeding
of horses, cattle, and
sheep. Stallions were
imported from Persia
to improve the stock,
which had been falling
off in size and quality
though increasing in
number. Spanish rams
were used to lay the
foundation of the South
African breed of meri-
nos, and the Angora
goats bore transplacing
Palmeit Vallei, Klein Drakenstein. excellently, and SOOtt
browsed greedily on the coarse grasses of the Cape.
By the advances of the voortrekkers or pioneer farmers the
range of settlement was extended so far in 1761 that the start of
D '
Muller's Farm, Achter Paarl.
IN TRADITIONAL OPHIR LAND
8r
Mooi Kelder, Lower Paarl.
the first large exploring party since the return of the van der
Stel expedition was made in that year from a rendezvous near
the mouth of Olifants River. This party was led by Captain
Hendrik Hop of the burgher militia, and was made up of seven-
teen whites and
sixty-eight half-
breed Hottentot
servants. It
started in August
and advanced on
the track of the
former expedi-
tion, passing the
Copper Moun-
tains of Little Plaisis de Merle, Groot Drakenstein.
Namaqualand, and reaching the river Vigiti Magna on Septem-
ber 29. This river was familiarly called by the colonists the
Groote (Great) River, and held this name until both the tradi-
82
THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
tional and common names were supplanted by a new christening
in 1779, when Colonel Robert Jacob Gordon, commanding the
garrison at Cape Castle, led
another expedition up the
river, and named it Orange
in honor of the stadtholder.
Hop's exploring party met
a troup of giraffes soon after
crossing the Groote River,
and won the distinction of
furnishing the first skin of a
giraffe from South Africa to
the Museum of the Univer-
sity of Leyden. But except-
ing this novel chase there was
little to attract the explorers.
The sun scorched them relent-
Donkerhoek, Groot Drakenstein. i i • i i i
lessly in the open desert, and
they could nowhere find water except in the deep sand-pits dug
by the roving natives. Sometimes there was a shallow puddle
at the bottom of
one of these pits,
and even when the
sand was barely
moist, further dig-
ging to the under-
lying stone would
sometimes yield a
trickle of water.
Still they pushed
on stubbornly to
the farthest point
Vet reached from A Wine Cellar. Herd of Cape Goats.
the Cape, in latitude 26° 18' S., before turning back to bring
home their discouraging story.
It was thirty years before this advance was outstripped by
BJ QJO
M) AilNK.s Of v « it •>» ML A
:e\v christening
. ommanding the
( "ape -Castle, led
• ffet expedition up the
and named it Orange
•:>ur of the stadtholder.
op's exploring party met
. /p of giraffes soon after
the Groote River,
T, the distinction of
^he first skin of a
^outh Africa to
•f the Univer-
But except-
i f there was
LA RHONE, GROOT DRAKENSTE1N.
explorers.
lem relent-
^eNrrt, and
OLD LE ROUX.
V- "
g b;i.k to bring
'- Outstripped by
or THE
UNIVERSITY
C41.I!
IN TRADITIONAL OPHIR LAND
Willem van Reenen, of the farm Zeekoevlei on the Olifants
River. This adventurous farmer set out in 1791 with four
fellow colonists and a number of Hottentot servants, and reached
on the 1 8th of November the end of the trek of Captain
Hop's party. Prowling Bushmen and lions beset their camps
continually, and in January, 1799, they had to beat off a fierce
swoop of a party
of Namaquas. Yet
they pressed on
until March 14,
when they came
to a little oasis
which they named
Modder Fontein,
or muddy spring.
Then they turned
back after a few
days' rest, and
plodded home to
the farm Zeekoe-
vlei, which they
reached on the
2Oth of June.
They had killed
sixty-five rhinoc-
eros and six
giraffes, without
reckoning their
bag of smaller game, and brought back exultantly wagon loads
of copper ore, which they supposed to be gold until their hopes
were blighted by assayers at the Cape.1
The depressing reports from these expeditions were not the
least of the straws that finally broke the back of the Dutch East
India Company. For nearly a century and a half their colony
in South Africa had been a continual drain and burden. All
1 " South Africa," George McCall Theal.
Tatr, 1757.
84
THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
An Old Farm House, Lower Paarl.
the expedients and efforts of the energetic directors of the com-
pany in the seventeenth century, and such faithful servants as
van Riebeeck and van der Stel, had failed to develop any mines
or any product for export of any considerable importance. With
the beginning of the
eighteenth century there
was an evident drooping
in the enterprise of the
company, and a drift
toward hopeless discour-
agement, which culmi-
nated in 1794 with the
declaration of bankruptcy.
The company's debt was
;£ 1 0,000,000 sterling,
and its credit was utterly exhausted. It could no longer under-
take even to maintain a feeble garrison at the Castle for the
defence of its colony. Issues of depreciated and irredeemable
paper had driven out all gold and silver from circulation at
the Cape. Debts could be paid in this paper, which was legal
tender, but nobody would receive it in exchange for goods
except at such a discount that there was a general resort to
barter. Internal trade was para-
lyzed, and a little wheat, wine,
and tallow was all that could be
squeezed out of the colony for
export to Java and India. The
straggling settlers on the north-
ern frontier were continually
fighting with the IshmaelitC Farm House, Achter Paarl.
Bushmen, and the Kafirs on the northeast were still more
harassing and formidable. Every kraal was a rude fort and
every family a garrison. Ammunition was growing scarce and
costly, and there was no hope of succor from the Castle at the
Cape.
In view of this patent collapse, the stretching out of the
IN TRADITIONAL OPHIR LAND
strong arm of Great Britain to seize the Cape in 1795 should
have been as welcome as rescue to a wreck. Then for the first
time a power took hold of the way station of East Indian trade,
and its straggling offshoots, that had the strength and the skill
and the far-reaching conception to
do more than repress savage on-
slaughts and defend grazing
grounds, — to open great mines,
to convert arid karroos into irri-
gated plantations, to extend the
network of railways, and stretch
in time the steel band of civiliza-
tion across the darkest zone of
Africa. This Britannia has done
and is doing, either in her imperial
way, or by the hands of the sons
who have labored to make her
Brand Solder (Fire Loft). For the
prevention of fire.
greater.
But the coming of this saving
and transforming power had the appearance, at the time, of a
hostile attack. The Netherlands, in 1793, were wholly under
the thumb of the new French republic, and war was declared
against Great Britain through controlling French influence.
There had been some revolting against the further collection
of taxes by officers of
the East India Com-
pany, but the colonists
as a body did not want
any foreign interference.
So the little garrison in
the Castle at the Cape
put on a defiant front,
and rallied to its support
a number of burgher volunteers when a strong British fleet sailed
into Table Bay in the first week of September, 1795. It was ap-
parent, however, even to the boldest Dutch defender, that resist-
86
THE DIAiMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
ance was hopeless, and Cape Town, with its castle and garrison,
surrendered to Admiral Sir George Elphinstone and General Sir
Alured Clarke, on the sixteenth of September. So was ended
one hundred and forty-three years of rule of the Dutch East
India Company, and from this date British ascendancy in South
Africa began. There was a brief intermission, it is
true, some years later, when the treaty of Amiens
(1802) transferred the
Colony to the Ba-
tavian Republic.
But the breaking
out of war again
in the following
year ruptured the
treaty, and ex-
posed the Cape
Colony again to the hazard of capture, which actually followed
early in January, 1806, when Cape Town was retaken by Major
General David Baird. From that time the Cape was held con-
tinuously by the strong arm until the convention at London,
August 13, 1814, when all claims of the Netherlands to South
Africa were extinguished by cession, and Great Britain became the
heir of all the Dutch advances from the Cape of Good Hope.1
1 " South Africa," George McCall Theal. "Precis of the Archives of the
Cape of Good Hope," H. C. V. Leibbrandt. "South Africa," Augustus Henry
Keane. "Heroes of South African Discovery," N. D'Anvers (Henry Bell).
Fort Good Hope.
:'t wsiV A
M -UR1CA
•::istie an ' garrison,
'Stone and General Sir
Briber. So was ended
ruie of the Dutch East
;sh ascendancy in South
a brief intermission, it is
^hen the treaty of Amiens
iiSo2) transferred the
|i . a Colony to the Ba-
tavian Republic.
But the breaking
out of war again
•'i the following
•- ruptured the
and ex-
rhc Cape
: i! lowed
A View from the Kloof Road leading from the Upper Part of Cape
.
S;H- v»,;s held con-
.(.;,ti(»n at London,
\erht-rlands to South
rat Britain became the
t-f Good Hope.1
' the Archives of the
-iia," Augustus Henry
* A livers '.Henry Bell)..
UNIVERSITY
OF
CHAPTER III
THE PIONEER ADVANCE
HEN Lord Charles Somerset came to the Cape
as the first Governor of the Colony after the
cession, how slight and infirm was the hold of
any civilization on the indurated barbarism
of the vast expanse of Africa south of the
equator! In the three hundred years that had
passed since Vasco Da Gama made known the bounds of the
continent, the outer rim of the traditional Ophir land had barely
been pierced. From the Atlantic side the Portuguese had not
pushed beyond a fringe of trading posts on the Lower Guinea
coast, and were clinging feebly to insignificant stations along the
shores of the Mozambique channel: The Dutch grip was more
obstinate, in spite of all disappointments, but the range of their
advance was only a few hundred miles from the Cape, and out-
side of Cape Town the population was a mere sprinkling on the
face of the land. When the British first wrested the Cape from
the Dutch, Earl Macartney, who held the government in 1797,
defined by proclamation the bounds of the Colony. It only ran
east to the Great Fish River and on the north to the Zuurberg
Mountains and the southern edge of Bushman's land, trending
up to the Kamiesberg, and thence along the coast to Buffels
River in Little Namaqualand. The total extent was roughly
120,000 square miles, merely the extreme tip of South Africa,
and the entire population, both white and black, was reported
to be less than 62,000, or about one person to every two square
miles. This was a petty fringe on the skirt of the dark continent.
Not only was the Colony weak in numbers, but it was seem-
ingly without any uplifting leaven of enterprise and ambition.
87
88 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
For generations the Dutch settler had been treading in the foot-
steps of his forefathers without any wish to stride ahead. What
they had done, he would do if he could. No new way of work-
ing or living or thinking was as good to his mind as the old way.
The pioneer farmer and grazier had often been constrained to
pack all his goods on the backs of oxen or in a wagon with his
wife and children. A little hut of " wattle and daub " sheltered
the family. Rude frames of wood overlaid with raw hide strips
were their bedsteads, and sheepskins, their bedclothes. They
cooked their food on the coals of wood-fires or boiled it in an
iron pot. They cut their meat with clasp knives and drank
from tin cups. A big chest served them for a table. Their
house floor was the bare earth, unless a strip was covered with
a wild beast's skin. Their children were brought up from their
birth in this habit of life and the lack of comforts was not to
them a privation. Their standard of living was scarcely higher
than that of the imported Guinea slaves who worked for them, or
of the native tribes that surrounded them. Their isolation from
civilized society and their life in the wilderness in familiar con-
tact with slaves and savages was inevitably degrading. When the
English took the Colony, there was not a bookstore or a single
good school in it, and outside of Cape Town almost the only
tutors were soldiers who were allowed to live with the farmers.1
Still there was one sustaining and universal spirit which kept
even the rudest grazier from* sinking to the barbaric level. They
clung to the God of Israel and to the Bible as God's revelation.
They never wearied of searching the Scriptures, and they prayed
with the fervor and faith of the old Covenanters. Their creed
was the strait and narrow way of Calvinism and the synod of
Dordrecht, and they turned to the Old Testament as confidingly
as to the New for guidance. They recognized the holding of
slaves as a practice permitted to Israel, and they made bond ser-
vants of the Hottentots in their apprenticeship contracts. In
their eyes the Bushmen were Ishmaelites and the Kafirs Philis-
1 "South Africa," George McCall Theal. "Handbook to South Africa,"
S. W. Silver & Co.
THE PIONEER ADVANCE 89
tines, who were cumbering the ground that might be occupied by
God's favored people.1 But the settlers were phlegmatic and
peaceful by nature, content with their bare living, and with no
ardor for extending their bounds by conquest. An extraordinary
impulse was needed to convert them into adventurers and wan-
derers in the desert.
This impulse was given by the capture of the Cape, the influx
of jostling immigrants from Great Britain, new and vexing legis-
lation, and disasters to crops which exalted the comparative value
of pasturage lands.2 At the opening of the administration of
Lord Charles Somerset there was a marked effort on the part of
the Home Government to promote the growth of the Colony. A
regular mail packet service was established between England and
the Cape, and ^50,000 were voted by Parliament in 1819 to be
disbursed in aid of emigration to South Africa. This contribution
was a powerful stimulus, and it is estimated that nearly 5,000
new settlers of British birth were added to the population of
Cape Colony from March, 1820, to May, 1821.
Unfortunately the South African climate in 1820 and the
years immediately following was peculiarly aggravating. In 1819
there had been a heavy wheat crop and the consequent tempta-
tion to farmers to extend their wheat growing. So they did, but
the crop of 1820 throughout South Africa was fatally blighted.
The next year's crop fared no better, and thousands of farmers
were ruined and brought even to the verge of starvation. Rations
were distributed by the Colonial Government in the fall of 1821
to those who had no means to buy food, but the unrelieved
suffering was widespread. Following hard on this scourge of
blight came the prodigious floods of October, 1823, when it
seemed to the colonists in the eastern districts as if the heavens
were open for another deluge. Rain fell in torrents for days
without ceasing, and overflowing rivers ran foaming to the sea,
carrying millions of tons of earth in their turbid floods as well as
the shattered houses of settlers who had barely time to fly for
1 " Impressions of South Africa," James Bryce. "South Africa," Theal.
2 " Annals of Natal," John Bird, p. 505.
90 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
their lives. These staggering rebuffs in the face of the new emi-
grants were greatly demoralizing. Some fled from the Cape in
despair, and many more wrote home to their friends that the Col-
ony was hung between flood and famine, and that the greater part
of South Africa was a dismal Karrooland. Still there was a notably
plucky rally and an immediate turning to other resources when
wheat cultivation was shown to be an uncertain reliance. Cattle
and sheep breeding was largely extended at once, and in 1828
hides and skins ranked only second to wine in the list of
exports.1
The failures in wheat growing and the resort to pasture land
were strongly moving influences urging on the advance of pio-
neer settlers from the southern river valleys north and east over
the veld into unclaimed territory. This natural flow of migra-
tion was greatly swelled and impelled by the clashing of the old
settlers with the newcomers from Great Britain, and by their
resentment of British control and administration measures. By
the census of 1819 the white population of the colony was
42,217, and outside of Cape Town this people was almost
wholly of Dutch descent or of the fused Dutch and Huguenot
strains. It was inevitable that a stock of such breeding and tra-
dition should be impatient of any ordinances or ways except its
own. It was peculiarly irksome to bow to a nation which had
captured the Cape by the strong arm, and was only represented
by a small minority of the" settlers. The inevitable heart-burn-
ing; was aggravated by the contact and rivalries of the new and
O OD *
old settlers. Neither faction had the knowledge or temper to
recognize the best traits in the other and show tolerance for dis-
o
similar habits and prejudices. The Dutch boer has an old
Anglo-Saxon root and is simply correspondent to the German
bauer, a farmer or countryman ; but in the English mouth all
the Dutch colonists were lumped as Boers, and in the English
eye Boer was too often confounded with the clownish boor.
The Boers faced this contempt with a glowing resentment that
burned like a slow-match.
1 "South Africa," Theal.
THE PIONEER ADVANCE 91
In the new measures of government there was a succession
of vexations also to colonists attached to the old customs and
ordinances. The expense of the new colonial establishment was
a grievance. The adjustment of the currency aroused bitter
complaint. The substitution of English for Dutch in official
papers, and the abolition of the old Dutch courts, were heavy
humiliations. But the keenest resentment was excited by the
measures designed for the protection of Hottentot bond servants
and free natives, and the emancipation act of 1833. There had
been a rapid increase in the importation of slaves from Guinea
after the first conquest of the Colony by the British, but in 1807
the last cargo of slaves was landed at Cape Town, and the slave
trade was formally brought to an end by law in the following year.
Still the colonists continued to hold and breed slaves as their
fathers had done, and there were 35,745 slaves in the Colony
when the emancipation act went into effect on the first of Decem-
ber, 1834. These slaves were valued at ^3,000,000, but only
^1,200,000 were appropriated as compensation to their owners.
The loss fell heavily on many owners already sinking under the
weight of mortgages, and there were rumblings and outpourings
of bitter indignation. The deficiency in compensation was called
Imperial confiscation, and the Boers resented it sorely, not merely
on the score of the loss measured in money, but as a crowning
instance of their political subjection.1 Alien Imperial rule was
the deep-seated grievance which was the underlying and impel-
ling cause of the extraordinary exodus from Cape Colony called
the Great Trek.2
In 1835 Louis Triechard led out the first pioneer company
of this migration, and his advance into the wilderness beyond the
o *
bounds of the Colony was followed by a succession of slow-mov-
ing caravans pushing northeast to the head waters of the Orange
River and the terraces of Natal, and moving on, in course of
years, across the Vaal to the Limpopo water-shed. This out-
push of pioneers in large parties, overcoming all barriers of
1 " Annals of Natal." " South Africa," Theal. " The Great Trek," Henry
Cloete, her Majesty's High Commissioner for the Colony of Natal. 2 Ibid.
92
THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
mountains and deserts, and fearlessly venturing into the strong-
holds of the fiercest native tribes, undoubtedly hastened and
secured the acquirement of the marvellous diamond and gold
fields of South Africa. The march of the caravans and the
winning of the land was a drama full of barbaric color and
movement.
At the time when the Cape first fell into the hands of Great
Britain, there was an insignificant tribe, the Amazulu, living in
kraals on the banks of
the river Unvolosi, which
flows into the Indian
Ocean at St. Lucia Bay.
In their name there was
an arrogance of high de-
scent, for its meaning is
" the people of the sky ";
but the Amazulu had then
nothing else to brag of,
and while their head chief,
Senzanzakona, lived, there
was no terror in the Zulu
name. But there was a
son born to Senzanzakona
in or near the year 1783 1
who made the Amazulus
masters of a region far
exceeding any bounds of
the Kalangu Monomotapa, and stamped his name across it in
indelible blood.'2
The boy was called Tshaka or Chaka, which, in the Sechuana
tongue, is " battle axe." There is another tracing of his name
to Cheka, a wasting disease afflicting his mother. In either
translation the name was ominous. But this chief's son had no
deformity that an eye could see. When he came to manhood,
a sculptor would have picked him as a model of his tall, athletic
1 « South Africa," Theal. «« Annals of Natal." 2 Ibid.
/ulu Chief Get away o and Part of his Family.
THE PIONEER ADVANCE
r
race. He was more than six feet in height, and every inch was
pulsing with vigor. No rival could leap as high or hurl an
assagai as far. In later life his
o
shapely features were swollen with
ugly passions and debauch, and
his lithe body was overlaid with
fat, but he never lost the beauty of
his deep-set, brilliant black eyes,
fringed with their long, curved
eyelashes.
For some cause Chaka, while
only a lad, was forced to fly for
refuge to Dingiswayo, chief of the
Abatetwa, the master tribe of
the district. Under protection
of this chief he was made a sol-
dier, and took by craft the head-
ship of his own Zulu tribe when
his father died. Then he was Zulu Prince- Dinizulu"
able to betray and put to death his protector Dingiswayo, and
spread his mastery by force or
terror over the surrounding
tribes. As he grew in power he
showed an unfolding genius for
war and command. He pressed
every young and strong man
within reach into his army. He
marshalled his men in impis or
regiments. He discarded the old
bunch of assagais and armed each
man with a single, short-handled,
long-bladed unkonto or spear,
and protected him with a shield
of oxhide. He aimed with his
weapon to make every fight hand to hand, where every man
must kill or be killed. If a soldier lost his spear he was
/ft
Zulu Family.
94 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
doomed to die, unless he could show another in place of it, torn
from an enemy.
No barbaric figure was ever more terrific and martial than
the Zulu soldier in war-dress. Chaka's hair was cut close,
except on the top of his head where the thick, crisp locks were
matted or moulded into a ring made of a tree gum and polished
to the likeness of ebony. Thick folds of otter pelt were wound
round his head and great earrings of carved sugar-cane hung
from the cut lobes of his ears, which were covered with pads of
A Zulu and his Ten Wives.
jackal's skin. From this turban projected two feet or more a
jet-black crane feather, waving with every toss of his head. A
circlet of twisted monkey and genet skins hung over his breast
and back, and from his waist a thick flexible kilt of twisted skins
hung to his knees. Bands of short-cut white oxtails circled his
legs and arms, and the ruffles round his ankles made his bound-
ing feet oddly like the winged Mercury. In his right hand he
grasped his spear and swung at his left side his oval shield of
white oxhide. Now pin with thorns a dozen bunches of the
red feathers of the louri in the crisp tufts of his crown and scat-
j\ '.MONO MINES Oi SOI "I » .A
• . ,t .. i u t;>s lie could show .iur»r!-: 'iUvf ot u, torn
• >«*.'C r>'.Ture AUS ever JTH • -*i» and martial than
tidier in war-' hair was cut close,
.t the top of his hcKvi ^Mtrr rlnck, crisp locks were
'Moulded into i PMC- • -t a rrce gum and polished
.I-, /ness ot'ebonv. o . ot otter pelt were wound
iis head and urcaf c.if fit" carved sugar-cane hung
»• It!' Acre covered with pads, ot
ZULU IN WAR ATTIRE.
:oi.,ted rwo feet or more a
? t-vi.ry toss of his head. A
hung over his breast
flexible kilt of twisted skins
>rr -cut unite oxtails circled his
•.a his ankles made his bound-
ercury. In his right hand he
his left side his oval shield of
- horns a dozen bunches of the
N-.I tufts of his crown and sxrat-
THE PIONEER ADVANCE
95
Zulu Kraal and Huts.
ter some other brilliant feathers on a circlet above his breast,
and see Chaka dressed for parade.1
Then fancy the marshalling of an army of men like him, for
the chieftain in arms was one of ten thousand. When the lead-
ing division marched on in review, every man was more or less
closely the image of Chaka. These picked men were his Unbala-
bale or Invincibles, scarred veterans who had never been beaten.
They bore white shields marked, like their chief's, with a black
spot, and behind them followed in grade of honor divisions with
red-spotted shields, gray shields, and black shields. Only the
Invincibles had kilts of skins, the others wearing instead a trap-
ping of oxtails. As these fierce troops marched on before
Chaka's keen eye, the men of chief mark would bound from the
ranks and show a marvel of vaulting, darting to and fro, whirl-
ing of spears and mimicry of fight, in which few athletes could
compare with the supple Zulu.
In formation for battle Chaka curved the van of his impis
1 "Annals of Natal," pp. 90-100.
96
THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
like a crescent. He called the end his horns and the centre his
breast. This was the old array of the warring Bantu tribes, but
Chaka greatly strengthened it by a formation behind in an
oblong block of men held in reserve to repel any break in the
crescent or reenforce it when wavering. His force of disciplined
soldiers ranged up to fifty thousand strong.
Zulu Hut in course of Construction.
With this prodigious engine of war shaped to his hand, he
overran all the country from Delagoa Bay to the Unzimvulu
River and far into the interior, scourging its face mercilessly.
Some of the terrified tribes in his way were blotted o*ut com-
pletely. " There was a white mark from the Tugela to Thaba
N'chu, and that was our bones," said an old Hlubi to Theal, the
historian of South Africa. Sometimes stragglers escaped to lurk
in mountain recesses. These wretched survivors of the scourge
were covered by one new and pitiful name, Amafengu, because
their first cry to strangers was Fenguza, " we want." Only one
tribe held Chaka in check, the warlike Amaswazi, which stub-
bornly guarded their mountain paths and cliffs. Even the fierce
Amangwane were forced to fly before Chaka's resistless impis ;
but they kept massed together, and in their retreat drove off or
massacred most of the tribes between the Orange and the Vaal
rivers. Then the Amangwane, still hot pressed by the Zulus,
THE PIONEER ADVANCE
97
began to rub against the frontiersmen of Cape Colony. This
inroad was bravely met by a muster of a thousand soldiers and
Boers under Lieutenant Colonel Somerset, who finally put the
Amangwane to utter route in a sharp battle, August 27, 1828,
near the banks of the Bashil River.1
Chaka was a warrior capable of measuring the efficiency of
the white man's organization and firearms. When the Aman-
gwane were thrown back, the Zulu chief withdrew his own impis
without risking a collision with the whites. A few weeks later
he was murdered by two of his half brothers and his best-trusted
attendant. Dingaan, his half brother, and one of his assassins,
grasped the headship of the Zulus, but his succession was dis-
Zulu Woman grinding Corn.
puted by the commander of one of the chief divisions of Chaka's
army, the unruly Matabele. This revolting chief, Umsilikazi,
was the model of a Zulu warrior, tall, sinewy, shapely, and,
except in war dress, naked save for a cord around his waist
from which leopards' tails dangled. A string of little blue
beads was drawn about his sturdy neck, and three green feathers
of a paroquet were stuck in his crisp hair. His followers were
like him, and the wild charge of the legion of such men armed
1 "South Africa," Theal. "Annals of Natal."
98 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
with their keen-bladed spears was a sight that would try the
nerve of any white soldier. How the rudely armed and undis-
ciplined Boers would face it was soon to be tested.
Umsilikazi, revolting from Dingaan, led his Matabele divi-
sion across the desert to fall upon the country north of the
Orange River and west of the Drakensberg, the Dragon
Mountains. Much of this country had been ravaged before
by the Amangwane, and the Matabele spared nothing that had
escaped slaughter and pillage. Dingaan sent an army of Zulus
in 1834 to dislodge his rival, but the warriors of Umsilikazi
' '* • *^
"x
\ «
^ :ic3S
Zulu Women.
beat back the attack. By the Zulu raids and massacres and
wars, the whole country from the seaboard of Natal nearly to
the junction of the Orange and Vaal was desolated, and the
native tribes of the region almost destroyed. Thus great tracts
of land were opened to the advance of the migrating Boers, but
the push of the trekking pioneers soon brought them in conflict
with Umsilikazi and Dingaan.
Then the remarkable traits of this peculiar people stood out
in high relief. To English immigrants, jostling the old settlers,
the ordinary Boer appeared a Dutch clodhopper, sullen and jeal-
ous, unkempt in person and dress, immovably set in his traditional
ways, pig-headed in his obstinate prejudices, a block to every
suggestion of progress, Pharasaical in his prayers, absurd in his
THE PIONEER ADVANCE
99
customs, and often clutching to the last penny.1 There were
some true lines in this partial portraiture, with a natural warping
Zulus smoking Indian Hemp.
of prejudice and lack of insight. In face of the foreign intru-
sion the Boer had something of the instinct of the turtle and
Old Zulu Women taking Kafir Beer to a Wedding.
1 "The Great Thirst Land," Parker Gillmore. "South Africa," George
McCall Theal. " South Africa ; a Sketch Book of Men, Manners, and Facts,"
James Stanley Little.
ioo THE DIAMOND MINES OE SOUTH AFRICA
porcupine. But in the heart of the wilderness, in his venture-
some trek over the pathless veld, and in the traverse of moun-
tains and deserts, he showed what scornful eyes had not seen, —
the self-reliance, the fortitude, and the pluck of the true pioneer.
He packed his wife and children and all his needful supplies
in a huge, low-bodied wagon under an arched frame covered with
waterproof canvas. To this stout
wagon sixteen strong oxen were
yoked to the chain or rawhide rope
forming a trektouw. Every ox was
a helpmate. Every one knew his
name and place and resented a
change in yoking. The Boer and
his Hottentot helpers spoke to them
all familiarly, and could cut at will
a fly from the ear of any one with
a flick of their long-lashed whip.
When these prairie-schooners lum-
bered off, creaking and swaying,
with a chorus of Dutch and native calls, the Beers and their
sons rode beside them on ungainly flea-bitten horses, trained to
herding and hunting, and often possessing uncommon bottom
and speed.
The Boer was by nature prudent and wary. For comfort
and safeguard the advance of the Great Trek was in companies,
camping at night on plain and hillside, with wagons ranged to
form a rough palisade and kraal. No morning or nightfall ever
passed without prayers and the reading or recital of Scripture.
For every step of his way he looked to his God for guidance,
and he felt that the old promises to the chosen people were
renewed to him. His faith in the literal inspiration of the Bible
was unwavering. He did not doubt that the sun stood still at
the call of Joshua, or wonder at the slaughter of Philistines with
the jawbone of an ass. In face of every privation and the direst
peril he was sustained by his certain reliance on the help of One
who could make a spring gush from the desert rock, or deliver
Zulu Girls.
THE PIONEER ADVANCE
101
any heathen host into the hands of a few faithful servants.
But with all this reliant devotion he never forgot " to keep his
powder dry," and used every opportunity to perfect his skill as
a marksman.
Back of his faith and prudence was an unflinching spirit. In
the uncouth Boer smouldered the fire of an ancestry that charged
at Ivry and starved at Leyden. Even the women and children
were dauntless at the
pinch of need. With
her white grease-cloth
wrapped about her face,
the Boer's vrouw was
an uncouth object, but
with her eye on the
sight of a rifle many a
fat old woman was a
guard to be feared.
No impediments
nor dangers stayed the
advance of these pio-
neers. When a heavy
wheel dropped into a
deep gully or earth-
crack or ant-bear hole,
it was pried out with un-
tiring patience. When
thunder-storms changed
the red soil to beds of
mire and the wheels were clogged masses of mud from nave to
felloe, the mud was laboriously scraped away and the wagons
tugged to firmer ground. When the violent wrenches and strains
snapped trektouws and wagon-poles and king-bolts like pack-
thread, the same inflexible temper relinked the broken touws with
riems of rawhide, chopped out new wagon-poles, and forged new
fastenings with rude blacksmith's art. No karroo was so forbid-
ding and no stream so swollen as to bar the onward march.
Native Laborers in War Dress.
102 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
The tired Boer snored serenely at night behind the bulwark
of his wagons, regardless of the wild beasts prowling and sniff-
ing outside. The giggling calls of the gray and brown jackals,
the doleful howl of the slinking hyena, even the deep breathing
sough of the lurking lion, did not open his eyes, and it must be
a fiercely menacing roar indeed that would lift his head. His
only haunting dread was the crippling of his march by the
deadly tsetse fly or the wasting diseases that made his horses
and oxen the prey of the vulture.
Trekbok (Springbok) Hunting.
In the passage of these pioneers the destruction of wild ani-
mals of all kinds was enormous, partly for the sake of needful
food, and partly for the skins, but much wantonly and waste-
fully, for the Boer would rarely let pass a living mark for his
rifle. Of lesser game there was no attempt to keep tally, but by
a common report thousands of lions were shot in the march to
the Transvaal. Any such reckoning must be largely guesswork,
though there is no doubt that few beasts within range escaped with-
out the sting of a bullet. But a foe more formidable than any
multitude of lions sought to bar the progress of the Great Trek.
The revolting Umsilikazi was the first of the great Zulu
chiefs to try the temper and the arms of these pioneers. One
THE PIONEER ADVANCE
103
of the larger divisions of the Great Trek, led by Hendrik Pot-
gieter and Gert Maritz, left the Cape Colony in August,
1836, and pushed north of the Caledon River.1 Some of the
pioneers in this advance were cut off suddenly and killed by
Umsilikazi. Flushed with this bloodshed, he made a swoop
with six thousand men upon a part of Potgieter's trek — a com-
pany of a few score men, women, and children. But the startled
Boers were now on their
guard. They ranged their
big, white-tented wagons in a
square, lashing the wheels to-
gether with rawhide riems,
and filling in the chinks in
their barricade with thorny
mimosa bushes. In the cen-
tre of this laager a few wagons
were placed as a cover for the
women and children.
Upon sight of the ad-
vancing Matabele, all knelt
and prayed. Then some of
the men rode out boldly to
meet the attack with their
heavy rifles. Their fire was
deadly, killing, at times, two
or three at a shot, when their
guns were loaded with slugs,
but the impis pressed on,
driving the Boers back to their laager in a sullen retreat, turning
to fire as fast as they could reload. Within the laager all was
made ready for a defence to the death. Back of every wagon a
little heap of powder and bullets was put on the ground, and the
women stood by to hand spare guns and reload. It was sternly
ordered that there should be no shrieking or crying by women
or children. In silence the rush of the Matabele was awaited.
1 The Caledon River divides Basutoland from the Orange River Colony.
Zulu in War Dress.
io4 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
On came the impis in raging masses that dashed on every
side of the laager like surf on a reef, wrenching at the wheels,
clambering over the canvas, plunging through the thorns. The
heavy wagons were shaken and swayed, but the lashed barricade
held fast. The grim Boers met the shock with withering
volleys, piling up the blacks in bloody heaps around the laager.
Crouching behind the firing line, the women moulded bullets
and helped to reload.
The firing was so deadly and the laager so impenetrable that
the surges massed against it recoiled. But, after a moment of
rallying,on came the billows of men, flinging their assagais, and
howling like madmen as they crashed against the barrier which
shielded the Boers. They stabbed and slashed at the canvas
covers in frenzied efforts to cut their way over the wagons, and
wriggled through the crevices packed with thorn bushes, until
some, torn, bloody, and gasping, squirmed into the square, where
the Boer women killed them with knives and hatchets. The
Boers fired as fast as they could lift their rifles, not stopping to
use their ramrods, but grabbing handfuls of powder to charge
their guns, and dropping in slugs with scarcely any wadding.
So intense was the strain of that hour that even these men
of iron nerve were entranced. " Of that fight," wrote one,
" nothing remains in my memory except shouting and tumult
and lamentation, and a dense smoke that rose straight as a plumb
line upwards from the ground." l
Four times the black impis charged and four times their
onset was beaten back before Umsilikazi drew off his men.
The field around the laager was a fearful sight, and the white
tops of the barricade were slashed into strips and dripping with
blood. Seventy-two stabs were counted in the cover of one
wagon, and eleven hundred and seventy-two assagais were flung
through into the camp. But none of the stout defenders were
killed, and all joined devoutly in a psalm of thanksgiving.
In retaliation for this attack Hendrik Potgieter and Pieter
Uys led a troop of one hundred and thirty-seven in a swift
1 "Annals of Natal," p. 375.
THE PIONEER ADVANCE
105
march and onslaught upon the main division of Umsilikazi.
The attack was so well timed and aimed that the array of fierce
impis was shattered and their chief was driven in flight to the
wilderness beyond the Limpopo. There, in the present Mata-
beleland, Umsilikazi brought together the remnants of his
people, and ruled in awe of the pioneers until his death in 1870.
Hard upon the defeat of
Umsilikazi came the greater
clash with Dingaan, when the
trekking Boers crossed the Dra-
kensberg or Dragon Mountains
O O
to the terraces of Natal. This
cunning and tricky chief made
smooth professions of friendship
to the Boers at first. He wel-
comed as allies the company
headed by Pieter Retief and re-
ceived the commander at his
kraal. The chief's house was a
spherical hut about twenty feet
in diameter. Its floor was pol-
ished till it shone like a mirror, and its roof was supported by
twenty-two pillars of wood completely covered with beads.
Around this house were seventeen hundred ruder huts which
Dingaan used as barracks for his impis, and each hut would
cover twenty men.
After some parleying Dingaan signed a cession of the greater
part of the present territory of Natal to the Boers. To cele-
brate the compact he invited Retief to visit him again with his
companions. It was agreed as an exhibit of good faith that no
arms should be taken into the chiefs kraal. So Retief and
some sixty other Boers, with forty Hottentot attendants, piled
their arms outside the kraal, and came in before Dingaan, who
was sitting in an arm-chair in front of his hut. Two of his
impis were formed in a circle about him. The Boers took their
seats on the ground within the circle, and cups of utywala or
io6 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
native beer were offered them to drink. But when they put
their lips to the cup, Dingaan cried out, " bulala amatagati,"
"kill the wizards." At this cry his Zulus fell on their helpless
guests in overwhelming mass. A few Boers had clasp-knives,
and the others met the rush with naked hands, but all were
overpowered in a moment and dragged over the ground to a
hill near by, called Hloma Mabuto, or the mustering of the
soldiers. Here their heads were crushed with knob kerries,
and their bodies were flung into heaps. Retief was forced to see
the horrid murder of all of his companions. Then his heart
and liver were cut out and taken to Dingaan, and the mutilated
corpse was cast on the heap of dead.1
None of the Boers in the trap escaped, and after the mas-
sacre the Zulus poured out to raid the scattered camps of the
pioneers. They were finally beaten back at Bushman's River,
after they had killed many trekkers and carried off their cattle,
and the mounted Boers followed their retreat for days. But
the Zulus were quick to turn and strike again like fierce hawks,
and within two months they swooped down upon the English
settlers and native blacks of Natal and cut them off almost to a
man.
The trekking Boers were hard pressed. Pieter Uys was
killed in ambuscade, with his son, a boy of fourteen, and a num-
ber of his men. When Uys was fatally wounded, he urged his
son to escape by spurring his horse, and the boy rode on to
a place of safety, but turned and rode back deliberately to die
with his father.'2 Potgieter drove back the Zulus after the fall
of Uys, but he did not venture to hold his ground, and with-
drew across the Drakensberg. Only a determined rally and
crushing blow could free Natal from the hanging menace of the
impis that Chaka had trained for the hand of Dingaan.
In December, 1838, a force of six hundred mounted Boers
was mustered to strike this blow under the command of Andries
Pretorius. It seemed an absurdly weak force for such an attack,
but the count in numbers did not measure its strength. Every
1 "Annals of Natal," pp. 214-218. 2 Ibid. p. 374.
THE PIONEER ADVANCE 107
man was a master marksman with the heavy rifle that had so
often broken the bound of the lion and stopped the charging
rhinoceros when to miss was death. In every one's heart was
a flame of hate for the ruthless Zulu. " Remember Retief "
was a mutter that ran from man to man as the troop rode on.
They longed for revenge as thirsty men crave water. They
advanced, too, with the spirit of the Israelites of old and of
Cromwell's Ironsides. They marched only between matins
and evensong. They prayed in their saddles and lifted their
voices in psalms. Surely the God of their covenant had the
power to confound any might of the heathen and deliver their
enemy into their hands.
When they drew near to the Zulus, Pretorius halted, and
with all his men offered a vow to the God of their fathers,
should He grant them the victory, "to raise a house in memory
of His great name wherever it should please Him, and note the
day in a book to make it known to latest posterity."
With this simple confidence in Divine protection there was
the shrewdest practical judgment in selecting the best possible
post to offset their comparative weakness in numbers and in-
trench their little force. Their laager was pitched at the junc-
tion of a broad river reach, called a sea-cow hole, with a deep,
dry water-course, covering both flanks. Here, on Sunday, the
1 6th of December, 1838, at five o'clock in the morning, they
were attacked by a force of many thousand Zulus and fought
for more than five hours. Impi after impi, reckless of life,
charged up to the rifle front belching smoke, flame, and bullets,
only to reel back before the deadly hail. When even this rag-
ing horde wavered, Pretorius with one hundred and fifty picked
horsemen circled about and struck their rear with a charge so fiery
that the Zulus were utterly routed. The Boers drove the blacks
to the river, shooting and trampling them under the feet of their
horses. " The Kafirs lay on the ground," said one horseman,
" like pumpkins in a rich soil that has borne a large crop." The
sea-cow hole was packed so full that " the water looked like a
1 "Annals of" Natal," pp. 246-249, 448.
io8 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
pool of blood," and the stream thenceforward was known as
Blood River.1 Three thousand six hundred Zulus were left
dead on the field, and this decisive victory was gained without
the loss of a single life to the Boers. A few were slightly
wounded, but they thought nothing of their hurts in the com-
mon thanksgiving.
This signal triumph and salvation were humbly taken as the
answer of God to their prayers, and the vow before the battle
was faithfully ful-
filled, as the old
Dutch Reformed
Church of Pieter
Maritzburg, the
mother church
of Southeast Af-
rica, bears wit-
ness. The flying
Zulus were pur-
sued and the
kraal of Dingaan
captured, Febru-
ary 3d, 1839,
where the bodies
of Retief and
his companions
were found and
mournfully buried in one grave. The Boers called the place
Weenan, the weeping, and so it is known to this day.
Dingaan fled north and hid himself in a concealed kraal
which he built. A Boer writer tells a story of his capture and
death with grim delight. Many of the tribes which had been
pressed in with the Zulus made peace with the Boers. One of
the Swazi chiefs, Sapusa, who had bowed to the tyranny of
Dingaan, found his late master's hiding-place. " On the first
day old Sapusa pricked his captive with sharp assagais, not
1 " Annals of Natal," pp. 246—249, 448.
A Zulu Laborer in War Attire.
THE PIONEER ADVANCE 109
more than skin deep, from the sole of his foot to the top of his
head. On the second day he caused him to be bitten by dogs.
On the third day Sapusa said to Dingaan, ' Are you still the rain-
maker, greatest of men ? The sun is rising, you shall not see
it set.' Then he took assagais and bored Dingaan's eyes out,
and when the sun set, Dingaan died, for he had had no food or
water for three days. Such was the end of Dingaan." 1
So the Boers finally stayed the sweep of the Zulu scourge
which had laid waste a great stretch of land north of the Cape
settlements. Upon the defeat and flight of Umsilikazi, the vic-
torious commandant, Hendrik Potgieter, proclaimed that all the
territory overrun by this chief was forfeited to the pioneer
Boers. This claim covered the greater part of the late South
African Republic, and half, at least, of what is now the Orange
River Colony. In this assertion there was no recognition of
any sovereignty of Great Britain or attachment to the Cape
Colony. It was the view of the Boers that the land which they
took was theirs by right of capture and forfeit, and that they
were independent adventurers with no ties of allegiance. A
simple form of republican government was established for the
Boers, north of the Orange River, by a general assembly of the
pioneers at Winburg in June, 1837, and a few years later, on
the land won from Dingaan, on the other side of the Drakens-
berg, the republic of Natalia was declared to extend from the
Umzimbulu to the Tugela. Outside of these crudely organized
political associations there were from sixteen to twenty pioneer
companies, headed by field cornets, which were practically as
independent as the native tribes north of the Drakensberg.
Neither of the republican creations was recognized by Great
Britain, and, in 1842, Port Natal and the seaboard of the
republic were captured, though Andries Pretorius repulsed the
first British attack at Congella with heavy loss. In the follow-
ing year Natal was formally declared to be a British Colony, and
several thousand British immigrants were brought in to take the
1 Of the basic fact of the assassination of Dingaan by a Swazi there is no
question.
no THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
place of the retiring Boers who recrossed the Drakensberg. In
1848, by proclamation of Sir Harry Smith, her Majesty's High
Commissioner and Governor of Cape Colony, all the territory
between the Vaal and Orange rivers and the Quathlamba divi-
sion of the Drakensberg was formally declared to be part of the
British dominions under the name of the Orange River Sover-
eignty. The Boers had been spreading out towards the Vaal in
many trekking parties north of the Drakensberg, and the Brit-
ish supremacy was not recognized until it was forcibly asserted
by arms in the battle of Boomplatz, July 22, 1848. Then part
of the Boers sullenly submitted, but many, headed by Andries
Pretorius, preferred to pass beyond the farthest assertion of
English dominion by crossing the Vaal and entering the wilder-
ness stretching to the Limpopo.
There was then not even a glimmer of anticipation that the
great stretch of veld and karroo between the Orange and the Vaal
contained by far the richest diamond fields in the world. The
controlling ministry in Great Britain at the time did not even
consider it worth the cost of keeping and defending, and on
October 21, 1851, Earl Grey wrote to Sir Harry Smith that
" its ultimate abandonment should be a settled point in imperial
policy." The territory beyond the Vaal was rated still more
cheaply, and on January 17, 1852, the local independence of
the inhabitants of the Transvaal was formally recognized by the
Sand River Convention, signed by two assistant commissioners
for Sir Harry Smith, and by appointed delegates for the Trans-
vaal pioneers. The state organization of these settlers was first
christened Hollandsche Afrikaansche Republiek, but this name
was changed to Zud Afrikaansche Republiek in September,
1853. In the preceding month of July, Andries Pretorius, the
pioneer leader who broke the Zulu power, died, but his great
service was honorably recognized in the choice of his eldest son,
Marthinus Wessels Pretorius, as the first president of the new
Republic, and in the establishment of its capital of Pretoria.
On March 31, 1852, Lieutenant General George Cathcart suc-
ceeded Sir Harry Smith as High Commissioner and Governor
THE PIONEER ADVANCE in
of Cape Colony. The Transvaal had been already disposed of
by the Sand River Convention, but, immediately after his arrival,
May 13, 1852, General Cathcart issued a formal proclamation
confirming this convention. It appeared, too, that it might be
desirable to shift the charge of maintenance and local defence of
the Orange River Sovereignty to the shoulders of the pioneer
settlers. This conviction was confirmed by the outbreak of a
war with the Basutos, the most powerful native tribe in this terri-
tory, under a cunning chief, Moshesh. In November, 1852, Gen-
eral Cathcart led a little army of two thousand infantry and five
hundred cavalry to the Caledon River, but in the following month
his expedition was beset by an overwhelming force of Basutos
at Berea Mountain, and the battle was in effect a repulse to
the British. After leaving a garrison at Bloemfontein, General
Cathcart withdrew under cover of a fragile proclamation of
peace, but his report and the accompanying news were so dis-
couraging that the Duke of Newcastle wrote to him that " her
Majesty's Government had decided to withdraw from the
Orange River Sovereignty." In pursuance of this conclusion
a convention was signed February 23, 1854, at Bloemfontein, by
Sir George Russell Clerk, special commissioner representing
Great Britain, and by the delegates from districts in the sov-
ereignty. By this convention the independence of the settlers
in the sovereignty was guaranteed, and the administration was
handed over to a provisional council, which took charge until
the first sitting of the Volksraad, March 28, 1854, and the
declaration of a republic in the following month under the name
of the Orange Free State. This independent state covered the
greater part of the territory comprised within the bounds of the
Orange River Sovereignty, excepting the large division between
the Caledon River and the Quathlamba Mountains, reserved
to the Basutos, and smaller reservations on the Vaal held by
the Griquas.
Within the limits of the whole district between the Orange
and the Vaal rivers there were then not more than fifteen thou-
sand whites scattered over a territory of many thousand square
ii2 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
miles. Except in the Caledon River districts little of this great
expanse was capable of supporting any clustered population or
even available for agriculture. The soil throughout was shallow,
and in the southern and western sections the rainfall was ordi-
narily light. There were a number of widespreading karroos, and
in the dry months the greater part of the veld was little better
than the desert. The so-called farms were chiefly cattle and sheep
pastures, where the yield of grass and herbage was so varying
that several thousand acres were needed for any fair assurance of
Birds' Nest of Social Grosbeak.
safety for a small herd. The total number of farms secured by
grant was only twelve hundred and sixty-five, but they extended
over eleven million acres. Of the farm owners only one hundred
and thirty-nine were Englishmen, and a number of these were non-
residents.1 In the abstract there was seemingly little attraction or
value to excite any flow of immigration or to make the province
a prize worth the cost of defending.
Not only the prospects of the Orange Free State and of its
neighbor on the other side of the Vaal seemed dull and incon-
siderable to most observers, but the condition of Natal and
i " South Africa," Theal.
Elephant.
Zebra.
*y
Antelope.
Rhinoceros.
Haartebeesle and Gemsbok.
Giraffe. Rhinoceros.
Native Carvings on Boulders at Klipfontein, 35 Miles West of Kimberley.
•
ERSITY j
CF
THE PIONEER ADVANCE 113
of Cape Colony itself was little more promising. In Great
Britain the whole dependency was so lightly esteemed that it
was determined in 1849 to utilize it as a dumping ground for
convicts, after Australia had resentfully thrown off this burden.
The convict ship Neptune was actually sent out, but the indigna-
tion of the colonists was so demonstrative that no convicts were
landed, and the ship with its load was held for five months in
Simon's Bay, the present Naval Station, a little south of Cape
Town, until the recalling order was received, February 13, 1850.
The colony had not sunk so low as to submit to this mark of
contempt, but it was undoubtedly drooping in hopes and enter-
prise, and the progress of its industrial development was pain-
fully slow. There had been a pronounced diversion from
agriculture to cattle and sheep raising for reasons before noted,
and wool had become the chief and almost the only export of
consequence. Still the peculiar condition and vagaries of the
South African climate and seasons were hard to provide for or
overcome, and there were prevalent diseases that attacked horses,
cattle, and sheep, and greatly checked the rise of the pastoral
industry. Communication from one part of the colony to
another was very slowly improved. The roads were few and
bad, and in 1867 the only stretch of railway in all South Africa
was a bare forty miles from Cape Town to Wellington. The
total annual export of the Colony was a trifle over ^2,000,000
in value, and there was no diversification of industries and no
manufactures of any considerable extent.1 This was the situation
when the gloom was suddenly dispelled and the whole face of
South Africa changed by the discovery of the Diamond Fields.
1 "South Africa," Theal.
MOSHESH, A NOTED CHIEF OF THE BASUTO TRIBE WHO FOUGHT
THE ENGLISH. (See page HI.)
THE DISCOVERY
EARLY two hundred years had passed since
the memorable expedition of van der Stel
made known to geographers the Groote River,
which, a hundred years later, was christened
the Orange. Before Great Britain took the
Cape, the daring van Reenen had penetrated
to Modder Fontein, unconsciously skirting the rim of a marvel-
lous diamond field. Since the beginning of the century scores
of roving hunters had chased their game over a network of
devious tracks, traversing every nook of the land between the
Orange and the Vaal, and often camping for days upon their
banks. Then the trekking pioneer graziers and farmers plodded
on after the hunters, sprinkling their huts and kraals over the
face of the Orange Free State, but naturally squatting first on
the arable lands and grazing ground nearest the water-courses.
So, in the course of years, in the passage of the Great Trek,
thousands of men, women, and children had passed across the
Orange and Vaal, and up and down their winding valleys, and
hundreds, at least, had trodden the river shore sands of the
region in which the most precious of gems were lying.
On the Orange River, some thirty miles above its junction
with the Vaal, there was the hamlet of Hopetown, one of the
most thriving of the little settlements, and a number of farms
dotted the angle between the rivers. Along the line of the Vaal,
for some distance above its entry into the Orange, there were
some ill-defined reservations occupied by a few weak native
tribes, — Koranas and Griquas, — for whose instruction there
114
THE DISCOVERY 115
were mission stations at Pniel and Hebron.1 For centuries
unnumbered the aboriginal tribes had been ignorantly trampling
under foot gems of countless price, and for years Dutch and
English hunters, pioneers, farmers, shepherds, and missionaries
trekked as heedlessly over the African diamond beds.
After the revelation of this fact, there arose, it is true, an
imposing tale of an old mission map of the Orange River region,
drawn as far back as the middle of the eighteenth century, across
whose worn and soiled face was scrawled: "Here be diamonds." 2
Even if this report were true, there was no evidence determining
the date of the scrawl, which might more credibly be a crude
new record than a vague old one. In any event, it does not
appear that there was even a floating rumor of the probable
existence of a South African diamond field at the time of the
actual discovery of the first identified gem.
There is nothing surprising in this oversight. When a
spectator beholds a great semicircle of artfully cut gems spar-
kling on the heads, necks, and hands of fair women massed in
superb array, and resplendent in the brilliant lights of an opera
house, or when one views the moving throng glittering with
jewels in grand court assemblies, it is hard for him to realize
how inconspicuous a tiny isolated crystal may be in the richest
of earth beds. No spot in a diamond field has the faintest
resemblance to a jeweller's show tray. Here is no display of
gems blazing like a Mogul's throne, or a Queen's tiara, or the
studded cloak of a Russian noble. Only in the marvellous
valley of Sindbad are diamonds strewn on the ground in such
profusion that they are likely to stick in the toes of a barefooted
traveller, and can be gathered by flinging carcasses of sheep from
surrounding precipices to tempt eagles to serve as diamond
winners.
It needs no strain of faith to credit the old Persian tale of
the discontented Ali Hafed, roaming far and wide from his
1 "South Africa," George McCall Theal, London, 1888, 1891, 1893.
2 " South African Diamond Fields and Journey to Mines," William Jacob
Morton, New York, 1877.
n6 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
charming home on the banks of the Indus in search of dia-
monds, and, finally, beggared and starving, casting himself into
the river which flowed by his house, while the diamonds of Gol-
conda were lying in his own garden sands. It is probable that
the diamonds of India were trodden under foot for thousands of
years before the first precious stone of the Deccan was stuck in
an idol's eye or a rajah's turban. It is known that the Brazilian
diamond fields were washed for many years by gold placer
diggers without any revelation of diamonds to the world,
although these precious stones were often picked up and so
familiarly handled that they were used by the black slaves in the
fields as counters in card games.
If this be true of the most famous and prolific of all dia-
mond fields before the opening of the South African placers and
mines, any delay in the revelation of the field in the heart of
South Africa may be easily understood. For it was not only
necessary to have eyes bright and keen enough to mark one of
the few tiny precious crystals which were lying on the face of
vast stretches of pebbles, boulders, and sand, but the observer
must prize such a crystal enough to stoop to pick it up if it lay
plainly before his eyes. To the naked native a rough diamond
had no more attraction than any other pretty pebble. There
were millions of other white crystals and many colored pebbles
on the river shores which were equally precious or worthless in
his eyes. The roving hunters were looking sharply for game
bounding over the veld, and only glanced at a pebble-strewn
bank to mark the possible track of their prey. The stolid Boer
pioneers would hardly bend their backs to pick up the prettiest
stone that ever lay on the bank of an African river, even if it
were as big as the great yellow diamond so jealously guarded by
the Portuguese crown.1
It might be thought that some visitor to the fields would be
more expert in judging its character than natives, hunters, and
farmers ; but there were few trained mineralogists in South
1 "The Gold Regions of Southeastern Africa," Thomas Baines, F.R.G.S.,
London, 1877.
THE DISCOVERY 117
Africa, and it is doubtful if there was one who had ever examined
a diamond field personally or compared one field with another.
Even with this special experience an expert student of general
mineral formations might survey this particular field closely with-
out suspecting the existence of diamonds. This was demon-
strated in the visit of the colonial geologist Wyley to the
Orange Free State in 1856, when he investigated the alleged
discovery of gold in thin veins of quartz lining the joints and
crevices of the trappean rocks at Smithfield. In the course of
his exploration he went to Fauresmith, where diamonds were
afterward picked from the town commonage, and stood on the
verge of the farm Jagersfontein, later the seat of a prolific dia-
mond mine, yet it does not appear that he had even a surmise
of the existence of diamonds in the field of his investiga-
tion.1 It is but fair to him to observe, however, that the sec-
tion which he visited had no such close resemblance to any
known typical field as that which led Humboldt and Rose to
the revelation of the diamonds of the Ural from the similarity
of the ground formations to those of the Brazilian diamond
districts.
As a matter of fact nobody who entered the Vaal river region
conceived it to be a possible diamond field or thought of search-
ing for any precious stones. Probably, too, there was not a
person in the Orange Free State, and few in the Cape Colony,
who was able to distinguish a rough diamond if he found one by
chance, or would be likely to prize such a crystal. For the dis-
covery of diamonds under such conditions it was practically
necessary that a number of prospectors should enter it who
would search the gravel beds often and eagerly for the prettiest
pebbles. Were any such collectors at work in the field?
One of the trekking Boers, Daniel Jacobs, had made his
home on the banks of the Orange River near the little settle-
ment of Hopetown. He was one of the sprinkling of little
farmers who was stolidly content with a bare and precarious liv-
1 "Among the Diamonds," by the late John Noble, Clerk of the House of
Assembly, Cape Town.
n8 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
ing on the uncertain pasture lands of the veld. Here his chil-
dren grew up about him with little more care than the goats that
browsed on the kopjes.
A poor farmer's home was a squalid hovel. It was roughly
partitioned to form a bedroom and kitchen, lighted by two small
windows smudged with grime. Dirty calico tacked on the
rafters made its ceiling. Its bare earthen floor was smeared
weekly with a polishing paste of cowdung and water. Father,
mother, and children slept together on a rude frame overlaced
with rawhide strips. The only other furniture in this stifling
bedroom was a chest of drawers and a small cracked mirror.
There was no washbowl or water pitcher, but in the morning
one after another of the family wiped their faces and swabbed
their hands on the same moistened cloth. Then they drew up
chairs with rawhide seats to a rough wooden table and ate corn
meal porridge, and sometimes a hunk of tough mutton boiled
with rice, and soaked their coarse unbolted wheat flour bread in
a gritty, black coffee syrup.1
When the sheep and goats were turned out of the kraal to
graze on the patches of grass and the stunted thorns of the veld,
the children ran away after them and roamed over the pasture
land all day long like the flocks. There was no daily round of
work for them. The black servants were the shepherds of the
flocks, and did the slovenly housework, under the indolent eye
of the Boer and his vrouw, for the poorest farmer would not
work with his own hands except at a pinch. His boys and girls
had never seen a doll or a toy of any kind, but the instinct of
childhood will find playthings on the face of the most barren
karroo, and the Jacobs children were luckily close to the edge of
a river which was strewn with uncommonly beautiful pebbles,
mixed with coarser gravel.
Here were garnets with their rich carmine flush, the fainter
rose of the carnelian, the bronze of jasper, the thick cream of
chalcedony, heaps of agates of motley hues, and many shining
1 " Life with the Boers in the Orange Free State," by a resident English physi-
cian's wife, New York, 1899.
THE DISCOVERY 119
rock crystals.1 From this party-colored bed the children picked
whatever caught their eye and fancy, and rilled their pockets with
their chosen pebbles. So a poor farmer's child found playthings
scattered on a river bank which a little prince might covet, and
the boy might have skimmed the face of the river with one little
white stone that was worth more than his father's farm. Fortu-
nately for the future of South Africa, he did not play ducks and
drakes with this particular stone, which he found one day in the
early spring of 1867, but carried it home in his pocket and
dropped it with a handful of other pebbles on the farmhouse
floor.2
A heap of these party-colored stones was so common a sight
in the yard or on the floor of a farmhouse on the banks of the
Orange and Vaal, that none of the plodding Boers gave it a
second glance. But when the children tossed the stones about,
the little white pebble was so sparkling in the sunlight that it
caught the eye of the farmer's wife. She did not care enough
for it to pick it up, but spoke of it as a curious stone to a neigh-
bor, Schalk van Niekerk. Van Niekerk asked to see it, but it
was not in the heap. One of the children had rolled it away in
the yard. After some little search it was found in the dust, for
nobody on the farm would stoop for such a trifle.
When van Niekerk wiped off the dust, the little stone glit-
tered so prettily that he offered to buy it. The good vrouw
laughed at the idea of selling a pebble. " You can keep the
stone, if you want it," she said. So van Niekerk put it in his
pocket and carried it home. He had only a vague notion that
it might have some value, and put it in the hands of a travelling
trader, John O'Reilly, who undertook to find out what kind of
a stone the little crystal was, and whether it could be sold. He
1 "The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Charles Alfred Payton, Lon-
don, 1872. "South Africa Diamond Fields," Morton, New York, 1877.
"Diamonds and Gold of South Africa," Henry Mitchell of Kimberley, London,
1889.
2 "Among the Diamonds," 1870-1871. "South Africa," Theal, London,
1888-1893.
120 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
showed the stone to several Jews in Hopetown and in Coles-
berg, a settlement farther up the Orange River Valley. No
one of these would give a penny for it. " It is a pretty stone
enough," they said, "probably a topaz, but nobody would pay
anything for it."
Perhaps O'Reilly would have thrown the pebble away, if it
had not come under the eye of the acting Civil Commissioner
at Colesberg, Mr. Lorenzo Boyes. Mr. Boyes found on trial
that the stone would scratch glass.
" I believe it to be a diamond," he observed gravely.1
O'Reilly was greatly cheered up. "You are the only man
I have seen," he said, " who
says it is worth anything.
Whatever it is worth you
shall have a share in it."
" Nonsense," broke in
Dr. Kirsh, a private apothe-
cary of the town, who was
present, " I'll bet Boyes a
new hat it is only a topaz."
" I'll take the bet," re-
plied Mr. Boyes, and at his
suggestion the stone was
sent for determination to the
John O'Reilly. foremost mineralogist of the
colony, Dr. W. Guybon Atherstone, residing at Grahamstown.
It was so lightly valued that it was put in an unsealed envelope
and carried to Grahamstown in the regular post-cart.
When the post-boy handed the letter to Dr. Atherstone,
the little river stone fell out and rolled away. The doctor
picked it up and read the letter of transmission.2 Then he
examined the pebble expertly and wrote to Mr. Boyes : " I
congratulate you on the stone you have sent to me. It is a
1 Lorenzo Boyes (statement furnished to author), 1899.
2 W. Guybon Atherstone ; Lorenzo Boyes, 1899. " Among the Diamonds,"
1870-1871.
THE DISCOVERY
121
veritable diamond, weighs twenty-one and a quarter carats, and
is worth ^500. It has spoiled all the jewellers' files in Grahams-
town, and where that came from there
must be lots more. Can I send it to
Mr. Southey, Colonial Secretary ? "
This report was a revelation which
transformed the despised Karrooland as
the grimy Cinderella was transfigured
by the wand of her fairy godmother.
The determination was so positive and
the expertness of the examiner so well
conceded that Sir Philip Wodehouse,
the Governor at the Cape, bought the Mr- Lorenzo Boyes<
rough diamond at once, at the value fixed by Dr. Atherstone and
confirmed by the judgment of M. Henriette, the French consul
in Cape Town.1 The stone was sent immediately to the Paris
Exhibition, where it was viewed with much interest, but its dis-
covery, at first, did not cause any great sensation. The occa-
sional finding of a diamond in a bed of pebbles had been
reported before from various parts of the globe, and there was
no assurance in this discovery of any
considerable diamond deposits.
Meanwhile Mr. Boyes hastened
to Hopetown and to van Niekerk's
farm, to search along the river shore
where the first diamond was found.
He prodded the phlegmatic farmers
and their black servants, raked over
many bushels of pebbles for two
weeks, but no second diamond repaid
his labor. Still the news of the find-
Dr. w. Guybon Atherstone. ing of the first stone made the farmers
near the river look more sharply at every heap of pebbles in the
hope of finding one of the precious " blink klippe " (bright stones),
1 "South Africa," Theal. Lorenzo Boyes, 1899. "Diamonds and Geld
of South Africa," Theodore Reunert, 1893.
122 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
as the Boers named the diamond, and many bits of shining rock
crystal were carefully pocketed, in the persuasion that the glit-
tering stones were diamonds. But it was ten months from the
time of the discovery at Hopetown before a second diamond
was found, and this was in a spot more than thirty miles away,
on the river bank below the junction of the Vaal and Orange
rivers. Mr. Boyes again hastened to the place from which the
diamond had been taken, but he failed again to find companion
stones, though he reached the conclusion that the diamond had
been washed down stream by the overflowing of the Vaal.1
From the Orange River the search passed up the Vaal, where
the beds of pebbles were still more common and beautiful. The
eyes of the native blacks were much quicker and keener in
such a quest than those of the stolid Boer, who scarcely troubled
himself to stoop for the faint chance of a diamond. But no
steady or systematic search was undertaken by anybody, and it
was not until the next year, 1868, that a few more diamonds were
picked up on the banks of the Vaal by some sharp-sighted
Koranas.'2 The advance of discovery was so slow and disap-
pointing that there seemed only a faint prospect of the realization
of the cheering prediction of Dr. Atherstone, which was scouted
by critics who were wholly incompetent to pass upon it. Even
the possibility of the existence of diamond deposits near the
junction of the Orange and Vaal was flatly denied by a preten-
tious examiner who came from England to report on the Hope-
town field. It was gravely asserted that any diamonds in that
field must have been carried in the gizzards of ostriches from
some far-distant region, and any promotion of search in the
field was a bubble scheme.
To this absurd and taunting report Dr. Atherstone replied
with marked force and dignity, presenting the facts indicating
the existence of diamond-bearing, deposits, and adding: "Suf-
ficient has been already discovered to justify a thorough and
extensive geological research into this most interesting country,
and I think for the interest of science and the benefit of the
1 Lorenzo Boyes, 1899. 2 " South Africa," Theal, London, 1888-1893.
THE DISCOVERY 123
Colony a scientific examination of the country will be under-
taken. So far from the geological character of the country mak-
ing it impossible, I maintain that it renders it probable that very
extensive and rich diamond deposits will be discovered on proper
investigation. This I trust the Home Government will author-
ize, as our Colonial exchequer is too poor to admit of it."1
There was no official response to this well-warranted sug-
gestion, for it had hardly been penned when the announcement
of a remarkable discovery aroused such an excitement and such
a rush to the field that no government exploration was needed.
In March, 1869, a superb white diamond, weighing 83.5 carats,
was picked up by a Griqua shepherd boy on the farm Zendfon-
tein, near the Orange River.'2 Schalk van Niekerk bought this
stone for a monstrous price in the eyes of the poor shepherd, —
500 sheep, 10 oxen, and a horse, — but the lucky purchaser sold
it easily for ^11,200 to Lilienfeld Brothers of Hopetown, and
it was subsequently purchased by Earl Dudley for ^£2 5,000.*
This extraordinary gem, which soon became famous as " the
Star of South Africa," drew all eyes to a field which could yield
such products, and the existence and position of diamond beds
was soon further assured and defined by the finding of many
smaller stones in the alluvial gravel on the banks of the Vaal.
Alluvial deposits form the surface ground on both sides of
this river, stretching inland for several miles. In some places
the turns of the stream are frequent and abrupt, and there are
many dry water-courses which were probably old river channels.
The flooding and winding of the river partly accounts for the
wide spreading of the deposits, but there has been a great abrasion
of the surface of the land, for the water-worn gravel sometimes
covers even the tops of the ridges and kopjes along the course
of the river.
This gravel was a medley of worn and rolled chips of basalt,
sandstone, quartz, and trap, intermingled with agates, garnets,
1 W. Guybon Atherstone, 1868. 2 "Among the Diamonds," 1870-1871.
3 Ibid. (Accounts of this discovery differ somewhat.) Vide Theal's " South
Africa," Reunert's "Diamonds and Gold," etc.
i24 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
peridot, jasper, and other richly colored pebbles, lying in and on
a bedding of sand and clay. Below this alluvial soil was in some
places a calcareous tufa, but usually a bed rock of melaphyre or
a clayey shale varying in color. Scattered thickly through the
gravel and the clay along the banks were heavy boulders of
basalt and trap which were greatly vexing in after days to the
diamond diggers.1
For a stretch of a hundred miles above the Mission Station
at Pniel the river flows through a series of rocky ridges, rolling
back from either bank to a tract of grassy, undulating plains.
Fancy can scarcely picture rock heaps more contorted and mis-
shapen. Only prodigious subterranean forces could have so
rent the earth's crust and protruded jagged dykes' of metamor-
phic, conglomerate, and amygdaloid rocks, irregularly traversed
by veins of quartz, and heavily sprinkled with big bare boulders
of basalt and trap. Here the old lacustrine sedimentary forma-
tion of the South African high veld north of the Zwarte Bergen
and Witte Bergen ranges has plainly been riven by volcanic
upheaval. The shale and sandstone of the upper and lower
Karoo beds have been washed away down to an igneous rock
lying between the shale and the sandstone. It was along this
stretch of the river that the first considerable deposit of diamonds
in South Africa was uncovered.2
For more than a year since the discovery of the first diamond
there had been some desultory scratching of the gravel along the
Vaal by farmers and natives in looking for " blink klippe," and
a few little rough diamonds had been found by the Hottentots,
as before noted ; but the first systematic digging and sifting of
the ground was begun by a party of prospectors from Natal at
the Mission Station of Hebron. This was the forerunner of the
1 "Diamonds and Gold of South Africa," Reunert, Cape Town, 1893.
"The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872. "Among the
Diamonds," 1870-1871.
2 " Diamonds and Gold of South Africa," Reunert, 1893. " Among the
Diamonds," 1870-1871. "South Africa," Theal, 1888-1893. "On
Diamonds," Sir William Crookes, London, 1897.
THE DISCOVERY 125
second Great Trek to the Vaal from the Cape, a myriad of
adventurers that spread down the stream like a locust swarm,
amazing the natives, worrying the missionaries, and agitating the
pioneer republics on the north and the east.1
The first organized party of prospectors at Hebron on the
Vaal was formed at Maritzburg in Natal, at the instance of
Major Francis, an officer in the English army service, then
stationed at that town. Captain Rolleston was the recog-
nized leader, and after a long plodding march over the Drakens-
berg and across the veld, the little company reached the valley
of the Vaal in November, 1869. Up to the time of its arrival
there had been no systematic washing of the gravel edging the
river. Two experienced gold diggers from Australia, Glenie
and King, and a trader, Parker, had been attracted to the
field like the Natalians by the reported discoveries, and were
prospecting on the line of the river when Captain Rolleston's
party reached Hebron.2 Their prospecting was merely looking
over the surface gravel for a possible gem, but the wandering
Koranas were more sharp-sighted and lucky in picking up the
elusive little crystals that occasionally dotted the great stretches
of alluvial soil.
It was determined by Captain Rolleston to explore the
ground as thoroughly as practicable from the river's edge for a
number of yards up the bank, and the washing began on a tract
near the Mission Station. The Australian prospectors joined
the party, and their experience in placer mining was of service
in conducting the search for diamonds. The workers shovelled
the gravel into cradles, like those used commonly in Australian
and American placer washing, picked out the coarser stones by
hand, washed away the sand and lighter pebbles, and saved the
heavier mineral deposit, hoping to find some grains of gold as
well as diamonds above the screens of their cradles. But the
returns for their hard labor for many days were greatly disap-
pointing. They washed out many crystals and brilliant pebbles,
1 "South Africa," Theal, 1888-1893. " Among the Diamonds," 1870-
1871. 2 " Among the Diamonds," 1870-1871.
126 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
but never a diamond nor an atom of gold dust. Then they
pushed down the river more than twenty miles to another camp
at Klip-drift, opposite the Mission Station at Pniel. Here too
they washed the ground for days without finding even the tiniest
gem, and were almost on the point ot abandoning their dishearten-
ing drudgery, when finally, on the seventh of January, 1870, the
first reward of systematic work in the field came in the appear-
ance of a small diamond in one of the cradles.1
This little fillip of encouragement determined their continu-
ance of the work, and a party from British Kaffraria joined
them in washing the gravel in places that seemed most promis-
ing along the line of the river. It was agreed that the first
discovery of rich diamond-bearing ground should be shared
alike by both parties, but there was nothing to share for
some weeks. Then some native Koranas were induced to
point out to the Natalians a gravel-coated hummock or kopje
near the Klip-drift camp, where they had picked up some small
diamonds. When the prospectors began the washing of the
gravel on this kopje, it was soon apparent that a diamond bed
of extraordinary richness had been reached at last. Good faith
was kept with the company from Kingwilliamstown, and the
combined parties worked to the top of their strength in shovel-
ling and washing the rich bed. The lucky men kept their
mouths closed, as a rule, and did not intend to make known their
good fortune ; but such a discovery could not long be concealed
from visiting traders and roaming prospectors, and before three
months had passed some prying eye saw half a tumblerful of the
white sparkling crystals in their camp, and the news spread fast
that the miners had washed out from two hundred to three hun-
dred stones, ranging in size from the smallest gems to diamonds
of thirty carats or more.2
Then a motley throng of fortune-hunters began to pour into
the valley of the Vaal. The first comers were those living
nearest to the new diamond field, — farmers and tradesmen from
the cattle ranges and little towns of the Orange Free State.
1 " Among the Diamonds," 1870-1871. 2 Ibid.
THE DISCOVERY 127
Some of these were stolid Boers, drawn to the fields as a novel
and curious spectacle, but disdaining the drudgery of shovelling
and washing from morning till night for the chance of a tiny
bright stone. They stared for a while at the laboring diamond
seekers, and then turned their backs on the field contemptuously,
and rode home sneering at the mania which was dragging its
victims for hundreds of miles, over sun-cracked and dusty
karroos, to hunt for white pebbles in a river bed. Still there
were many poor farmers who caught the infectious diamond
fever at sight of the open field and a few sparkling stones, and
they camped at Klip-drift or went on farther up or down the
river, to join, as well as they knew how, in the search for
diamonds.
Following this influx from the Free State came swarming
in men of every class and condition from the southern English
Colony, and from the ships lying in the coast ports. The
larger number were of English descent, but many were Dutch,
and hardly a nation in Europe was unrepresented. Black
grandsons of Guinea coast slaves and natives of every dusky
shade streaked the show of white faces. Butchers, bakers,
sailors, tailors, lawyers, blacksmiths, masons, doctors, carpenters,
clerks, gamblers, sextons, laborers, loafers, — men of every pur-
suit and profession, jumbled together in queerer association than
the comrades in the march to Finchley, — fell into line in a
straggling procession to the Diamond Fields. Army officers
begged furloughs to join the motley troop, schoolboys ran away
from school, and women even of good families could not be held
back from joining their husbands and brothers in the long and
wearisome journey to the banks of the Vaal.1
There was the oddest medley of dress and equipment: shirts
of woollen, — blue, brown, gray, and red, — and of linen and
cotton, — white, colored, checked, and striped; trim jackets, cord
riding-breeches and laced leggings, and " hand me downs " from
o oo o *
the cheapest ready-made clothing shops; the yellow oilskins
and rubber boots of the sailor ; the coarse, brown corduroy and
1 "Among the Diamonds," 1870-1871.
128 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
canvas suits, and long-legged, stiff, leather boots of the miner;
the ragged, greasy hats, tattered trousers or loin cloths of the
native tribesmen ; jaunty cloth caps, broad-brimmed felt, bat-
tered straw, garish handkerchiefs twisted close to the roots of
stiff black crowns, or tufts of bright feathers stuck in a wiry mat
of curls ; such a higgledy-piggledy as could only be massed in
a rush from African coast towns and native kraals to a field of
unknown requirements, in a land whose climate swung daily be-
tween a scorch and a chill, where men in the same hour were
smothered in dust and drenched in a torrent.
It is doubtful if a single one of this fever-stricken company
had ever seen a diamond field or had the slightest experience
in rough diamond winning, but no chilling doubt of them-
selves or their luck restrained them from rushing to their
fancied Golconda. Their ideal field was much nearer a mirror
of the valley of Sindbad than the actual African river bank, and
it was certain that many would be as bitterly disappointed by
the rugged stretch of gravel at Klip-drift as the gay Portuguese
cavaliers were at the sight of the Manica gold placers.
Everything in the form of a carriage from a chaise to a buck-
wagon was pressed into service, but the best available transport
was the big trekking ox-wagon of the Boer pioneer. This was a
heavily framed, low-hung wagon, about twenty feet long and five
and a half feet broad. In this conveyance more than a dozen
men often packed themselves and their camping outfit and food.
An exceptionally well-equipped party carried bacon, potatoes,
onions, tea, coffee, sugar, condensed milk, flour, biscuits, dried
peas, rice, raisins, pickles, and Cape brandy. The total weight
of load allowed, including the living freight, was limited to
seven thousand pounds.1
East London, the nearest port, was something more than
four hundred miles from the diamond field, and Cape Town
nearly seven hundred. Durban, Port Alfred, and Port Elizabeth
were almost equally distant, as the crow flies, approximately four
1 " The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Charles Alfred Payton, Lon-
don, 1872.
THE DISCOVERY 129
hundred and fifty miles ; but the length of the journey to the
Vaal could not be measured by any bare comparison of air-lined
distances. The roads, at best, were rough trampled tracks,
changing, after a rainfall, to beds of mire. Their tortuous
courses rambled from settlement to settlement, or from one
farmhouse to another over the veld, and were often wholly lost
in the shifting sands of the karroo. It was a tedious and diffi-
cult journey by land even from one seacoast town to another,
and fifty miles from the coast the traveller was fortunate if his
way was marked by even a cattle path.1
When the rain fell in torrents with the lurid flashes and
nerve-shaking crash of South African thunder-storms, the dia-
mond seekers huddled together under the stifling cover of their
wagons, while fierce gusts shook and strained every strip of
canvas and water drops spurted through every crevice. In fair
weather some were glad to spread their blankets on the ground
near the wagon, and stretch their limbs, cramped by their pack-
ing like sardines in a box. On the plains they had no fuel for
cooking except what they could gather of dry bullock's dung.
Sometimes no headway could be made against the blinding dust-
storms, that made even the tough African cattle turn tail to the
blasts, and clogged the eyes and ears and every pore of exposed
skin with irritating grit and powder. Sometimes the rain fell so
fast that the river beds were filled in a few hours with muddy
torrents, which blocked any passage by fording for days and
even weeks at a time, and kept the impatient diamond seekers
fuming in vain on their banks. Payton's party was forty-six
days in its passage from Port Elizabeth to the Diamond Fields
without meeting with any serious delays, and journeys lasting
two months were not uncommon.2
Still, in spite of all obstacles, privations, and discomforts, the
long journey to the fields was not wholly monotonous and un-
pleasant. As there was no beaten way, the prospectors chose
1 "South Africa," George McCall Theal, 1888-1893.
2 " The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton. " South Africa Dia-
mond Fields and Journey to Mines," William Jacob Morton, New York, 1877.
130 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
their own path, riding by day and camping at night as their
fancy led them. In ascending to the tableland of the interior
from Natal, there were shifting and stirring visions of mountain
peaks, terraces, gorges, and valleys.
On the higher terraces there was not the luxuriance of the
coast, — the huge tree ferns with feathery fronds, the towering
masses of palms, the drooping festoons of climbing vines, the
exquisite flowers : spiked ansellias with their pale yellow blos-
soms, barred and spotted with red, pure white, sweet-scented
clusters of mystacidium, and orchids of marvellous variety and
hue, — but even the highest upland tree growth had beauties of
its own. On the slopes of the Drakensberg the wild chestnut,
the Natal mahogany, the white pear and iron wood grow sturdily,
and the common yellow wood, stink wood, bogabog, and sneeze
wood flourish in spite of their rude names.1
Amid this varied scenery they could linger and wind about
as they pleased, and every turn of their path revealed new charms
of line and color. As they descended the mountain flanks some
marked how the lacustrine deposits of past ages had overspread
the face of the land with their covering of sandstone and shale,
even skirting the summits of the highest peaks at a height of
more than six thousand feet, as was plainly shown on the Com-
passberg.'2 On the plateau below they saw how the craggy hills,
pointed spitz-kopjes, and columnar ridges of the trappean rocks
projected above the sedimentary cover of the karroo.
Throughout the Orange Free State, but especially in the
neighborhood of the valleys of the Orange and Vaal, these vol-
canic rock elevations are common, sometimes massed in irregular
rows and often rising in the most jagged and fantastic shapes.
" When we see them at the surface," wrote the geologist Wyley
In 1856, "they look like walls running across the country, or
more frequently form a narrow, stony ridge like a wall that
has been thrown down. The rock of which they are composed,
greenstone or basalt, is known by the local name of iron stone,
1 "The Colony of Natal," J. Forsyth Ingram.
2 "Among the Diamonds," 1870-1871.
THE DISCOVERY 131
from its great hardness and toughness, and from its great weight.
The origin of these dykes is well known. They have been pro-
duced by volcanic agency, which, acting from below upon hori-
zontal beds of stratified rock, has cracked and fissured them at
right angles to their planes of stratification, and these vertical
cracks have been filled up with the melted rock or the lava from
below. The perpendicular fissures through which it has found
its way upwards are seldom seen, nor should we expect to see
much of them, for it is precisely along the line of these that the
rocks have been most broken up and shattered and the denuda-
tion has been greatest."
Even in the crossing of the karroos there were curious and
awesome sights to attract and impress the mind of a traveller
beholding for the first time these desert wastes so widely spread
over the face of South Africa. They differ little in appearance
except in size. The Great or Central Karroo, which lies beneath
the foot-hills of the Zwarte Bergen range, has a sweep to the
north of more than three hundred miles in a rolling plateau,
ranging in elevation from two to three thousand feet. Day
after day, as the diamond seekers from Cape Town plodded on
with their creaking wagons, the same purpled brown face was
outspread before them of the stunted flowering shrub which has
given its name to the desert, spotted with patches of sun-cracked
clay or hot red sand. To some of the Scotchmen this scrub had
the cheery face of the heather of their own Highlands, and home-
sick Englishmen would ramble far through the furze to pick the
bright yellow flowers of plants that recalled the gorse of their
island homes.1 These common bushes, rarely rising a foot in
height, and the thick, stunted camelthorn, were almost the only
vegetable coating of the desert.
Straggling over this plane ran the quaint ranges of flat-
topped hummocks and pointed spitz-kopjes, streaked with
ragged ravines torn by the floods, but utterly parched for most
of the year. Shy meerkats, Cynictis •penicillata^ weasel-like crea-
1 Special correspondence London Chronicle and other English journals, Novem-
ber, 1899.
132 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
tares with furry coats, peered cautiously from their burrows at
the strange procession of fortune-hunters, and from myriads of
the mammoth ant-hills that dot the face of the desert innumer-
able legions of ants swarmed on the sand along the track of the
wagons. Sometimes at nightfall the queer aard-vark lurked
upon the ant-heap and licked up the crawling insects by thou-
sands. Far over the heads of the travellers soared the preda-
tory eagles and swooping hawks, harrying the pigeons and dwarf
doves that clustered at daybreak to drink at the edge of every
stagnant pool.1
Even in the earliest years of the Dutch advance into South
Africa, when wild beasts browsed in troops on every grassy plain
and valley and the poorest marksman could kill game almost at
will, the karroo was shunned by almost every living creature
except in the fickle season of rainfall. The lion skirted the
desert edge warily, unwilling to venture far from a certain water-
brook or pool. There was nothing on the bare karroo to tempt
the rhinoceros from his bed in green-leaved thickets, and only
the wide-roaming antelopes (trekbok) rambled for pasturage far
over the sparsely coated and parched desert waste. If this was
true in the days when the tip of Africa was swarming with animal
life, it is not surprising that the diamond seekers in 1869 and 1870
rarely saw any living mark for their rifles when they journeyed
over the desert. Rock-rabbits, akin to the scriptural coney,
scampering to their holes, were often the largest game in sight
for days at a time, and it was counted remarkable luck when any
hunter put a bullet through a little brown antelope, a grysbok, or
springbok.2 The springboks still haunted the Great Karroo, for
they were particularly fond of its stunted bush growth, and in
the rainy season many droves of these antelopes could be seen
browsing warily or flying in panic from the spring of the cheetah,
the African hunting leopard ; but most of the bigger game,
blesbok, hartebeest, koodoo, and wildebeest, that used to feed
1 "A Breath from the Veld," John Guille Millais, London, 1895. "Among
the Diamonds," 1870-1871.
2 "The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872.
THE DISCOVERY 133
greedily on the same pasture, had been killed or driven away by
the keen hunting of the years that followed the taking of the
Cape by the English.1
Sometimes the clear sky of the horizon was blurred by the
advancing of monstrous swarms of locusts, the " black snow-
storms " of the natives, sweeping over the face of the land like
the scourge of devouring flames, chased by myriads of locust
birds, and coating the ground for miles around at nightfall with
a crawling, heaving coverlet. Then might be heard the hoarse
O' O D
trump of the cranes winging their way over the desert and drop-
ping on the field strewn with locusts to gorge on their insect
prey. Or the travellers saw the slate-white secretary bird stalk-
ing about with his self-satisfied strut and scraping up mouthfuls
with his eagle-like bill.
More marvellous than the locust clouds were the amazing
mirages that deceived even the keen-eyed ostriches with their
counterfeit lakes and wood-fringed streams, so temptingly near,
but so provokingly receding, like the fruits hanging over the
thirsting Tantalus. Sometimes hilltops were reared high above
the horizon, distorted to mountainous size and melting suddenly
in thin air or a flying blur. Now a solitary horseman was seen
to swoop over the desert in the form of a mammoth bird, or a
troop of antelopes were changed to charging cavalry. No trick
of illusion and transformation was beyond the conjuring power
of the flickering atmosphere charged with the radiating heat of
the desert.2
When the prospectors crossed the karroo and entered the
1 "A Breath from the Veld," John Guille Millais, London, 1895.
2 Despatches of Julian Ralph and other special correspondents to London jour-
nals, October-December, 1899. "Sketches and Studies in South Africa," W. J.
K. Little, London, 1899. "Portraits of the Game and Wild Animals of Southern
Africa," W. G. Harris, London, 1840. "The Large Game and Natural His-
tory of South and Southeast Africa," W. H. Drummond, Edinburgh, 1875.
"Travel and Adventure in Southeast Africa," F. C. Selous, London, 1893.
"Kloof and Karroo," H. A. Bryden, London, 1889. "Days and Nights by
the Desert," P. Gillmore, London, 1888. "Gun and Camera in South Africa,"
H. A. Bryden, London, 1893.
134 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
stretches of pasture land which the Dutch called veld, the scenes
of their marches were much more lively and cheery. Little farm-
houses dotted the plains and valleys, rude cottages of clay-plas-
tered stones or rough timbers, but hospitable with fires blazing
on open hearths, big iron pots hanging from cranes and simmer-
ing with stews, and broad-faced, beaming vrouws and clusters of
chunky boys and girls greeted the arrival of an ox-wagon from
the coast as a welcome splash in the stagnant stream of their daily
life.1
At some of the halting places on the banks of streams, or
where plentiful water was stored in natural pans or artificial
ponds, the extraordinary fertility of the irrigated soil of South
Africa was plainly to be seen in luxuriant gardens, with brill-
iant flower-beds and heavy-laden fruit trees and vines. Here
figs, pomegranates, oranges, lemons, and grapes ripened side by
side, and hung more tempting than apples of Eden in the sight
of the thirsting, sunburnt, dust-choked men who had plodded
so far over the parched karroos. They stretched their cramped
legs and aching backs in the grateful shade of spreading branches,
and watched with half-shut eyes the white flocks nibbling on the
pasture land, and the black and red cattle scattered as far as the
eye could see over the veld. Tame ostriches stalked fearlessly
about them, often clustering like hens at the door of the farm-
house to pick up a mess of grain or meal, apparently heedless of
any approach, but always alert and likely to resent any familiarity
from a stranger with a kick as sharp and staggering as any ever
dealt by a mule's hind leg.
The interior of the homes in these oases was not so invit-
ing, for the rooms, at best, were small and bare to the eye of
a townsman. But some were comparatively neatly kept, with
smoothly cemented floors, cupboards of quaintly figured china
and earthenware, hangings and rugs of leopard, fox, jackal, and
antelope skins and brackets of curving horns loaded with hunt-
ing arms and garnished with ostrich feathers. For the guests
1 " Among the Diamonds," 1870-1871. "The Diamond Diggings of South
Africa," Payton, 1872. " South Africa Diamond Fields," Morton, 1876.
THE DISCOVERY 135
there was probably the offer of a freshly killed antelope or sheep ;
but the farmer's family was often content with " biltong," the
dried meat that hung in strips or was piled in stacks under his
curing shed.
Near every house was the accompanying kraal or open-walled
circle for the confinement of the flocks at night, built of stones,
and usually so bedded and filthy with fresh dung that a heavy
percentage of the farmers' sheep died yearly from foot-rot or scab.1
Close to the kraal was the water reservoir for the flocks and the
household use, unless the farm lay on the bank of an unfailing
stream. These collections of water were commonly hill drainage,
stored in long, narrow ponds by rough dams across ravines, or
the drainage and rainfall filling shallow natural basins which the
Boers call " pans." In the early morning the birds flew from all
quarters to these ponds. Wild ducks, geese, plover, sandgrouse,
and flocks of pigeons and doves hovered over the pools and
splashed and dabbled in the water, while the blue-gray Kafir
cranes stalked warily along the brink.
These basins are quite numerous in the country lying
between the Orange and the Vaal, as well as throughout the
Transvaal. The light earth washed down the hill slopes was
largely calcareous, and incrusted the grasses and roots of the
basin in a calc-tufa which is almost impervious to water. So
the pans became excellent natural reservoirs, though there was,
of course, a heavy loss from evaporation. No calamity is so
dreaded by the graziers as the failure of their water-supply, for
it has often caused the loss of a flock and the ruin of the poor
owner. Therefore the pans are highly valued and strictly re-
served, and the dams are daily inspected lest a burrowing land
crab should open the way for a rush of water that would empty
the reservoir.2 When a settler was fortunate in getting a tract
of land with a pan or a water-spring, he almost invariably gave
the name to his farm, as Dutoitspan, Dorstfontein, Jagersfontein,
1 " On Veld and Farm," Frances MacNab, London, 1897. "South Africa
Diamond Fields," Morton, New York, 1877.
2 " Among the Diamonds," 1870-1871.
136 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Bultfontein, — names of inconsiderable little patches on the face
of South Africa, which were destined to become memorable by
approaching revelations.1
Attracted by the good pasturage and water and the sight of
flowers, fruits, and birds, even the eager diamond seekers were
not loath to linger for a day at one of these oases and rest them-
selves and their cattle before pushing on to the Vaal. As they
drew near to their goal the face of the country began to change.
After passing the Modder River, the grassy plains stretched
out wider and longer and more gently undulating, and the mirage
was more greatly magnifying and illusive. Herds of wild game,
chiefly springbok, blesbok, hartebeest, wildebeest, and koodoo,
were now frequently seen, and the ears of the travellers were
tickled with the cheery karack-karack of flying korhaan and
the pipes of red-legged plover. There are black headed or veld
korhaan and bush korhaan. These birds, which are very plenti-
ful along the Vaal River and about Kimberley, belong to the
smaller bustard species. The cock bird of the veld korhaan has
a black head with white spots on the sides. The top of the
head or crest is of a reddish gray color. The back is also red-
dish gray, the markings of the feathers being in rings or stripes.
The wings are black-and-white, and the legs yellow. The hen
birds have reddish gray heads, but otherwise are similar in feather
to the cock bird. The bird derives its name from the Dutch
word knor, to scold, and haan, hen or bird, on account of the
scolding noise made by the male bird as it rises from the ground.
The original word, knorhaan, has been corrupted into korhaan.
The bush korhaan has a gray head with a light blue patch on the
crown, just back of which is a pink-brown crest an inch and a
half long. The back is covered with brown-and-white feathers
with diamond-pointed markings. The lower part of the leg is
yellow and the upper part blue. The Dutch call one variety
1 " Achtzehn Jahre in Sud Africa," E. J. Karrstrom, Leipzig, 1899. " Seven
Years in South Africa," Emil Holub, London, 1881. "South Africa," A. H.
Keane, London, 1895. "South Africa of To-day," Captain F. E. Younghusband,
London, 1898. "Ten Years in South Africa," J. W. D. Moodie, London,
1835. "South Africa," George McCall Theal, 1888-1893.
THE DISCOVERY 137
of birds somewhat resembling the bush korhaan rudely " dik-
kops," thick heads, from their appearance when wounded ; but
they are none the less handsome birds, and they were eagerly
shot and eaten by the diamond seekers on the way to the fields
and in the camps on the river. There were great numbers, too,
of the paauw or cape bustard near the Modder River, and red-
winged partridges and Guinea fowl that gave a welcome variety
to the meals of the travellers.1
Over the rolling ground the prospectors pressed rapidly to
the Diamond Fields and soon reached the river border where the
plains ran into the barrier of ridges of volcanic rocks. Jolting
heavily over these rough heaps and sinking deeply in the red
sand wash of the valleys, the heavy ox-wagons were slowly tugged
to the top of the last ridge above Pniel, opposite the opened
diamond beds of Klip-drift, where the anticipated Golconda was
full in sight. Here the Vaal River winds with a gently flowing
stream, two hundred yards or more in width, through a steeply
shelving, oblong basin something over a mile and a half in length
and a mile across. A thin line of willows and cotton-woods
marked the edge of the stream on both banks. On the descend-
ing slope toward the river stood the clustering tents and wagons
of the pilgrims waiting to cross the stream.
In the dry season the Vaal was easily fordable by ox-wagons
at a point in this basin, and the ford, which the Boers call
" drift," gave the name to the shore and camp opposite Pniel,
— "Klip-drift," "Rocky-ford." When the river was swollen
by rains, the impatient fortune-hunters were forced to wait, fum-
ing, in sight of the diamond diggings until the flood subsided ;
but, a few months after the rush began, a big, flat-bottomed ferry-
boat, called a pont, was constructed to carry over the wagons
and cattle, while the men crossed in rowboats, making regular
ferry trips between Pniel and Klip-drift.
How stirring were the sights and sounds from the ridge at
Pniel to every newcomer while the swarming diamond seekers
were crossing the river and spreading out over the northern
1 "Among the Diamonds," 1870-1871.
138 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
bank! — the confused clustering at the ford — the rambling of
stragglers along the shore — the gravel cracking and grinding
under the hoofs of the horses and ponies racing along the bank
and rearing, plunging, and bucking at the check of the bits and
prick of the spurs — the outspanning and inspanning of hun-
dreds of oxen — the swaying and creaking wagons — the writh-
ing, darting lash of the cracking whips of the drivers — the
sulking, balking oxen, driven into long, straining lines that
dragged the ponderous, canvas-arched "prairie-schooners"
through the turbid water and over the quaking sands — the
whistling, shouting, yelling, snorting, neighing, braying, squeak-
ing, grinding, splashing babel — the scrambling up the steep
Klip-drift bank — the scattering of the newcomers — the
perching of the white-topped wagons and the camp-tents like
monstrous gulls on every tenable lodging place on bank, gully,
and hillside — the scurrying about for wood and water — the
crackling, smoking, flaming heaps of the camp fires — the
steaming pots and kettles swinging on cranes — the great placer
face, pockmarked with holes and heaps of reddish sand, clay,
and gravel — the long stretches of the miners' rockers and
troughs at the water's edge — and chief of all in interest, the
busy workmen, sinking pits and throwing out shovelfuls of
earth, filling buckets and hauling them up with ropes, loading
and shaking the rockers, driving carts full of heavy gravel to
the water troughs, returning for new loads, scraping and sorting
the fine, heavy pebbles on tables or flat rocks or boards spread
on the ground !
No labored, crawling recital can compass and picture in
print any approach to the instant impress on the eye and ear
of the moving drama on the banks of the Vaal. Observer after
observer groped vainly for graphic comparison. " Klip-drift is a
swarm of bees whose hive is upset," said one , " a bank lined
with ant-hills," wrote another, prosily ; " a wild rabbit warren,
scurried by a fox," ventured a third ; " an insane asylum
turned loose on a beach," sneered a fourth. It was a mush-
room growth of a seething placer-mining camp in the heart
THE DISCOVERY
of the pasture lands of South Africa. To old Australian and
American miners it had a patent likeness to familiar camps and
diggings, but its local coloring was glaringly vivid and unique.1
1 " Among the Diamonds," 1870-1871. " The Diamond Diggings of South
Africa," Charles Alfred Payton, London, 1872. " South Africa Diamond Fields,"
Morton, New York, 1877. "To the Cape for Diamonds," Frederick Boyle,
London, 1873. "Diamond Fields of South Africa, by One who has visited the
Fields," New York, 1872.
Pniel Diggings.
CHAPTER V
THE CAMPS ON THE VAAL
EFORE calling to view the spreading of the
diamond seekers along the line of the Vaal
River, the rearing of successive camps, and the
growing pursuit of gems in the gravel, it is
essential to trace the progress of diamond
mining from its original development on the
water-shed of the Indus, and to account in great measure for
the blundering, confusion, and failures in the new Diamond
Fields by showing how crude and imperfect were any known
methods of winning the precious stones at the time of the South
African discoveries.
From earliest history there had been no change and no
prospect of change in the diamond mining of India (described
in Chapter i). In the Deccan diamond fields, as in the other
congested districts, there was such an influx of poor natives that
no labor-saving contrivances were sought for, and the diamond-
bearing gravels were lifted and washed by hand as they had been
by the first generation of workers. There had been no compe-
tition with the Deccan field, and no considerable production
outside of it, until the diamonds of the Brazilian fields were
made known to the Portuguese in the year 1728. As soon as
the Home Government learned of this discovery, the diamonds
in Brazil were declared to be State property, and for a hundred
years diamond mining was a Crown monopoly. This con-
dition was a clog to any possible advance in the methods of
mining. There was a constant drain on the industry without
any effort to develop it systematically, thoroughly, or economi-
cally.
140
THE CAMPS ON THE VAAL 141
The chief deposits were found, at first, in river beds and
ravines in a breccia of clay, quartz pebbles, and sand, charged
with oxide of iron. Some of the richest beds were opened along
the rivers Jequetinhonha and Pardo in the valley of Sejues, and
on the line of the rivers Aboite, Andaja, da Serreno, da Prata,
and San Francisco in the province of Minas Geraes.1
The diamond-bearing ground was worked under govern-
ment agents or leased to contractors. Quick returns were the
first object. So gangs of slaves were put on the grounds,
regardless of loss, if only the cream of the fields was skimmed.
In the dry season the beds of the smaller sierran streams were
nearly or wholly dry. Underlying the surface wash of sand in
the bed was the formacao or cascalho, heavy diamond-bearing
gravel intermixed with boulders. The alluvial soil was gen-
erally from eight to twenty feet thick, a silicious sand chiefly,
deep colored by ferruginous clay. The diamonds and other
minerals of high specific gravity were held in the bottom layer
of this alluvium, usually cemented in a coarse pudding-stone of
quartz and itacolumite — the cascalho. The sand was rudely
scraped away or carried off in pans, the boulders pried out, and
the cascalho exposed. Then the gravel was collected labori-
ously in pans and piled in heaps to await the rainy season, when
the streams filled the dry courses and there was water at hand
for washing the gravel.
Bacus or shallow pits were sunk in the sand along the brink
of the streams, and in these pits a few panfuls of gravel were
thrown. The bottom of the bacu was made to slope so that
the dashing of water on the gravel heap would readily wash away
the clinging sand and the lighter and larger stones. The expert
slaves washed the heaps in the bacus with splashes of water cast
1 "The Diamond Fields of Brazil," Report of United States Minister Bryan,
March 12, 1899, conveying report of American Secretary of Legation, Dawson.
" A Treatise on Gems," Lewis Feuchtwanger, M.D., 1867. "An Account
of Diamonds found in Brazil," James Castro de Sarmente, M.D. "Genuine
Account of the Present State of the Diamond Trade in the Dominions of Portugal,"
a Lisbon merchant, London, 1785. "Travels in South America," J. J. von
Tschudi.
142 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
from concave wooden plates with a peculiar whirl which has-
tened the separation of the heavier gravel. This concentrate,
containing most of the diamonds in the cascalho, was then
washed again in a batea, a wooden dish with a depression in the
centre. By dexterous shaking and whirling motions of the batea
filled with water and a few handfuls of gravel, the lighter gravel
Ue'.ports' Hope, Vaal River Diggings.
was carried to the rim and washed or scraped away, and dia-
monds mixed with heavier pebbles were collected in the hol-
lowed centre of the dish. A gentle tilt of the batea drained off
the water, and the precious stones were picked from the other
pebbles by hand.
Sometimes the formacao was deposited in an inclined mov-
able trough or cradle on whose face fifteen to eighteen pounds
were spread out at a time. Then a carefully regulated stream
of water was allowed to run through this deposit into a lower
trough and gutter while the cradle was rocked continually.
When the water ran off clear from the lower trough, the work-
ing negro would pick out the stones in the cradle with his fin-
gers, until only the finest pebbles remained, which he scraped
over and examined with the closest attention to detect the pos-
sible presence of diamond crystals.1
1 "A Treatise on Gems," Feuchtwanger, 1867. Report of United States
Minister to Brazil, March, 1899.
THE CAMPS ON THE VAAL
This was a slow and tedious process, at best. The percent-
age of precious stones won from the gravel necessarily depended
on the care, expertness, and eyesight of the workers. Experi-
ence proved that fairly expert gold placer miners were not
equally competent in handling diamond-bearing gravel, and slave
labor was not diligent or trustworthy. The loss was increased
by the greedy pressure for big and quick returns, and the pre-
mium set on the extraction of large stones.
When, in the course of mining, streams were diverted from
their beds by dams and sluiceways, there was urgent need of
hurrying, for the frail dams could not bear the rush of a flood
in the rainy season, and it was necessary to remove the gravel
from the stretches of river beds before the heavy rains fell.
"••• - .«y-.-T>* .*, <•••; • *, ,' ^5^^'^^S?,i4^ • ^•MBJL' ™ -
.«. ..-? " tM-V- '". ** \'" >••' ?'^^»^' "^ V-
"* < '* "-/->•" ,c,%. t>
Diggers' Camps on the Vaal River.
Often the formacao was buried under thirty feet or more of
sand, and all this overlying mass had to be scooped up and
carried off as well as the layer of gravel. As the slaves had
nothing better than pans for this work, the beds were covered
with swarms of negroes bearing pans on their heads and nibbling
away at the ground like ants in the effort to reach the gravel
before the floods came. In the reckless haste many tracts of
144 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
diamond-bearing gravel were buried under ground too deep for
profitable working, or covered by the waste of flooded rivers.
As the mines advanced up the hillsides, following the course
of the mountain streams, it was seen that there were gupiaras or
deposits of diamond-bearing gravel along the steep slopes of the
ravines, and these were worked by carrying the gravel to the
banks of streams, or by cutting sluiceways to the deposits.
Finally, on the sierran ridges and plateaus the conglomerate beds
were reached, from which the deposits in the river beds had
been washed by the mountain streams. This conglomerate was
chiefly itacolumite, a micaceous sandstone, accompanied by
mica-schist and penetrated irregularly by quartz veins. This
was the prevailing composite in the Serro de San Antonio, in
which the Jequetinhonha rises in the Serro de Matta de Corda,
the fountain head of the Rio Francisco.
Here the diamonds were not as thickly sprinkled as they
were in the cascalho concentrate, but the quantity was sufficient
to make extraction profitable, if the conglomerate could be dis-
integrated and washed. This was effected by collecting rain
water in pools at points above the conglomerate and carrying
down the water through ditches into gullies cut in the beds.
By the flow of the water, the formacao was separated from the
mass of rocks and sand. This device worked well, but owing
to the scarcity of water, the washing could only be continued for
a few weeks, at most, in the course of a year. In 1832 mining
in these fields was opened to the public, but the most accessible
and prolific beds had been worked, and there was little apparent
encouragement for the investment of capital in any large under-
taking which might have advanced the science of diamond
winning. It is said that more than half of the diamonds pro-
duced in Brazil were stolen by the workmen and sold to contra-
band dealers, by whom they were secretly sent out of the country.
Outside of the Indian and Brazilian fields no considerable
source of supply had been discovered anywhere. Some dia-
mond-bearing ground had been found in Borneo, which yielded
for many years a dribbling return, and in 1829 the first-known
THE CAMPS ON THE VAAL 145
diamond of Russia was discovered on the west flank of the Ural
Mountains by Humboldt and Rose, in a gold placer field near
the iron mines of Bissersk. Here the prevailing rock forma-
tion, like that in the upper diamond fields of Brazil, was itacolu-
mite, with an admixture of mica and iron pyrites.1 The debris
washed into a few valleys beneath this range yielded a meagre
return to the searchers, but there was nothing to inspire any
ardent working, and in Bohemia, Australia, Mexico, and the
United States, the picking up of a few isolated specimens was
noted as a curious occurrence rather than as the foundation of
any hope of a productive diamond field.2
So, at the time of the discoveries of diamonds on the banks
of the Vaal River, there was no known method for the extraction
of diamonds beyond the shovel of the Indian, the batea of the
Brazilian, or the cradle of the gold miner. There was no antici-
pation, on the part of the diamond seekers, of any formation in
Africa except the diamond-bearing gravel of alluvial deposits,
and the prospectors of the first rush did not seek for diamonds
beyond the gravel along the banks of the Vaal.
The Early Mining at Klip-drift, now called Barkly West.
The first waves of the influx from the southern country and
coast towns were warmly greeted by the small parties at work
on the Vaal. The diggers were squatters, without any legal
title to an inch of the river bank, as they very well knew. But
they relied on actual possession without contest, for their rocky
field was so apparently worthless that no farmer had cared to
secure it. They did not trouble their heads with any question-
ing whether the South African Republic covered their shore
line, or whether any native tribe laid claim to it, but they were
1 "A Treatise on Gems," Feuchtwanger, 1867. "Notices sur les Diamants
de 1'Oural," Parrot. "Transactions of the Imperial Russian Mineralogical Soci-
ety," at St. Petersburg, 1842. " De Novis quibusdam Fossilibus quae in mon-
tibus Uraliis inveniuntur," Gustav Rose, 1839.
2 «< Gems and Precious Stones of North America," Kunz, 1890.
146 THE DIAMOND MINES OE SOUTH AFRICA
so weak in numbers that they had some fear of possible attack
from the neighboring Koranas and Griquas, or other natives
who might covet their oxen and arms and supplies, as well as
their hard-won gems.1 In view of the abject state of the few
surviving Hottentots on the Vaal, any dread of their hostility
seemed absurd, but the miners did not know how weak the
natives were, and their new-found treasure unsteadied their
nerves. So they were glad to see a rally of prospectors on the
fields large enough to scare off any menacing natives.
The early comers picked out irregular patches of ground
here and there, to suit their fancy, and dug and strayed along
the river banks as they pleased, prospecting on any unoccupied
spot. There was no precise limit to the size of any claim. One
party would pounce on a whole hillock, like the prolific " Natal
kopje," and another would occupy a hundred feet or more of
shore line. There was no apparent need of jostling one another,
when any square rod for miles along a river bank was as thickly
sprinkled with diamonds as another, so far as any of the pro-
spectors could judge. Still, the known yield of the Natal kopje
drew preference to locations around it, and the product of other
neighboring placers was so enticing that the mass of diggers
concentrated at Klip-drift.
This massing made it necessary to agree on some defined
limits of ground which a man could reserve for his own work-
ing, or combine with the sections assigned to companions. To
fix and make this assignment a "Diggers' Committee" was
chosen by an informal mass meeting of the prospectors, which
made simple regulations controlling the working of the river
diggings. It was agreed that the size of a location should be
thirty feet square, and that title should be conveyed by a certificate
from the supervising committee. The water's edge along the
river was open to anybody wherever it was possible to set a
trough or a miner's cradle without interfering with other ground-
washing fixtures already in place, but locations might begin a few
yards from the river.2 So there was soon a close-set fringe of
1 "Among the Diamonds," 1870-1871, John Noble. 2 Ibid.
THE CAMPS ON THE VAAL 147
cradles and water-troughs at the bottom of the Klip-drift bank,
and the ridged and gullied slope for hundreds of yards inland
was pitted with holes from ten to thirty feet square, and ranging
in depth from four to twenty-five feet. If the river shore in
line with the parallel claim was too thick set with cradles to
admit a new washing machine, or if the claim was high up on
the bank, water for washing was sometimes carried up from the
river in carts to the working ground. Alluvial soil covered the
face of the basin, more or less thickly, for a stretch of half a
mile from the river, lying even on the tops of the kopjes, except
River Diggings at Gong Gong, 1880.
where rugged boulders and blocks of basalt and trap protruded
stiffly above the coating of gravel.
The choice of location was largely determined by fancy,
rather than any solid reason. Some preferred light colored
patches of gravel to dark, but would have been puzzled by any
call to justify their choice. Others sought for tops of kopjes,
with a supposition that the rains had washed the light gravel
downhill and left the heavier deposit with the diamonds on the
crown of the hillocks and ridges.1 It was generally observed,
however, that diamond crystals were most plentiful in spots
1 "The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Charles Alfred Payton, London,
1872.
148 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
where garnets and peridot were thickly deposited in the gravel,
and this observation was in accord with current accounts of
mining in other diamond fields. So the occurrence of these
red and green pebbles was commonly hailed as an assurance of
the presence of diamonds, and gravel so charged was washed
and sorted with exceptional care. But there was no concentrated
deposit in this field like the cascalho in the Brazilian river
valleys, and the labor of washing the thick mass of loose gravel
was necessarily great.
There were no appliances for handling and concentrating the
gravel marking any noticeable advance above the slow and labo-
rious methods of the Brazilian and Indian placer workers. The
deposit was a mass of gravel and sand, thickly sprinkled through-
out with heavy boulders of basalt and melaphyre which were
laboriously pried and dragged out of the shallow pits sunk by
the miners.1 The mixed gravel and sand was shovelled into
wheelbarrows or carts and taken to the river's edge, where it was
dumped into heaps on the ground, or in troughs sunk in the
bank. Then the gravel was washed in cradles, with two or
three screens of perforated iron, or zinc, or wire mesh, set to
form partitions with discharge holes so graduated that the larger
stones were held above the upper and coarser screen, while the
sand and lighter gravel flowed out through the upper and lower
screen holes. Meanwhile the cradle was more or less expertly
shaken to cause a deposit of the gravel of high specific gravity
on the bottom between the screens. The worthless stones in
the upper part of the cradle were then picked and scooped out
by hand and thrown away, while the concentrate was taken out
carefully and carried to the sorting table, an ordinary deal stand,
or any level wooden or iron structure, or to a flat stone. Here
the deposit was spread out thinly and sorted over inch by
inch with a short scraper of hoop iron, or any other thin strip,
while the appearance of a diamond was more or less keenly
watched for.'2
1 "The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Charles Alfred Payton, London,
1872. * Ibid.
THE CAMPS ON THE VAAL 149
Vaal River Diggings.
This washing machine was practically the same as the Aus-
tralian gold placer miner's cradle, or the American rocker, and it
had been used for years on the Brazilian diamond fields, though
the screening of the Vaal was probably more exact. But the
Brazilian negroes had become far more expert by long practice
and training than the green workers on the line of the Vaal, and
the handling of the concentrate in their bateas was extraordinarily
deft. It has been demonstrated over and over again in placer
fields that inexperienced washers cannot compete with trained
hands in concentrating gold dust, and even expert gold placer
workers often failed to handle diamond-bearing gravel efficiently.
So it is not surprising that many of the awkward adventurers
in the new fields lost heart completely at their failure to extract
any diamond from the masses of gravel which they dug and
washed so laboriously ; and it is practically certain that the per-
centage of gems saved, at first, was below the average winning
from the Brazilian sands.
The irregularity of the distribution of diamonds in the shore
bed was greatly perplexing and disappointing to the groping
locaters. The precious stones were strewed in the gravel in a
scattering way that defied any calculation. Here and there was
a rich patch of ground, while tracts all around it, precisely simi-
lar in a surface view, held only a few small diamonds or were
1 50 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
hopelessly barren. Even in the best placers there were apparent
freaks of deposit that sorely puzzled the diggers, and almost pro-
voked the belief in the dropping of the gems by whimsical genii
rather than by the play of natural agencies. One man, working
side by side with another for weeks in adjoining claims, would
not find one precious stone, while his neighbor was adding daily
to his little sparkling heap. Even when claims were so split up
that a digger could hardly turn about without brushing against
a comrade there was the like insolvable contrast of gem-studded
gravel and worthless pebbles. Often, too, when a claim had
been abandoned by an unlucky miner, the next man who jumped
into the deserted hole would unearth in a dav a superb diamond,
and, perhaps, wash out in. a week y scors more o> precious
stones/1
The miners were, as a body, so orderly, so tenacious of their
own rights under the established regulations, and so prudent in
restricting the possible extent of monopolized ground, that there
was little "claim jumping" or bitter wrangling. The provision
against loafing or the holding of unworked claims on speculation
was sufficiently sharp. The neglect to work a claim for three
days consecutively forfeited the holder's license, and the ground
was then open for the issue of a new certificate to the first claim-
ant. For many months all unoccupied ground in the Klip-drift
camp was greedily pounced upon by newcomers to the fields.
So this part of the river basin was continuously covered with a
busy swarm of workers, digging, washing, sorting, driving carts,
and stirring in all the daily occupations of camp life. Where
one man lost heart and went off prospecting up or down the
river, or plodded wearily homewards, another was ready to take
his place in a moment and continue the unflagging round of
work.
It was soon perceived that such diamond placer digging
was inevitably a gambling speculation, and few complained
loudly of their hard luck, or bitterly grudged the success of
their neighbors. When an unusually large stone was found,
1 "Among the Diamonds," 1870—1871, John Noble.
THE CAMPS ON THE VAAL 151
there was commonly a shout and a rallying of exultant friends
around the lucky finder, and all through the fields a redoubled
fervor of work from the spur of the signal success. Every one
felt that the good fortune of a comrade might be his own the
next moment, and, if this hope was cast down, the diggers toiled
on with indomitable pluck and sanguine spirit, ever lifting the
glittering image of better luck some day. So the rasping of
shovels, the splashing of gravel, the rumbling of carts, the
dumping of loads, and the rattle of cradles went on incessantly
with a lively din from morning till night.
River Diggings. Waldek's Plant.
For the sorting of the concentrated gravel shady spots were
chosen beneath spreading tree-branches, where tables were set,
or under the cover of canvas screens stretched over posts.
Here the miners bent over the thin layer of gravel, scraping
along the pebbles bit by bit, and gluing their eyes to the sliding
stones in anxious search for the coveted tiny white crystals ; or
stretched out at full length on their stomachs, they scraped the
gravel over the face of the boards or iron sheets laid flat on the
ground. In this branch of diamond winning, where keen eyes
were essential, the native blacks were largely employed, some-
times under close watch of a white overseer, and sometimes
without any oversight. Part of the black sorters were strictly
1 52 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Pniel Diggings, Vaal River.
faithful and honest, as was shown by test after test. One
boy brought straight to his master a diamond of eighty carats,
which his quick eye detected in the roots of an old stump that
he had been told to dump into the river. Another returned the
counterfeit stones that his employer had purposely dropped in
the concentrate.1 But all were not equally trustworthy, and
many fine stones were filched from the tables by nimble-fingered
sorters, even under the eye of a wary overseer. When the Boer
farmers came to the fields, they often brought their families with
them, and it was a common sight to see father and sons digging
and washing, while the mother and daughters sat on the ground
industriously picking over a layer of pebbles. Sometimes, too
Klip-drift, Early River Diggings.
1 "Among the Diamonds," 1870-1871, John Noble. " The Diamond Dig-
gings of South Africa," Payton, 1872.
THE CAMPS ON THE VAAL
'53
the wives and sisters of English miners, even women who had
rarely soiled their white hands before, might be seen sorting
river gravel as ardently as any prospector on the line of the
Vaal.
When newcomers roamed about sight-seeing over the fields,
they were surprised to note how rarely their presence drew even
a fleeting glance. Scarcely any one of all the groping swarm of
diggers, washers, and sorters, white or black, men or women,
diverted an eye for a moment from the intent absorption of the
search for the tiny crystals embedded in the vast stretches of
gravel. Eternal vigilance is the watchword of diamond winning
as well as of liber-
ty. It was keenly
felt by the dia-
mond seekers that
a fortune might
slip through their
hands in the shift-
ing and twinkling
of an eye. So wan-
dering strangers
threaded their
way among the
burrows in the
pitted bank and the diamond sorting tables without attracting any
more attention than stray pebbles rolling down the gravel heap.1
Whenever any one of this curious swarm found a big stone
he had a prize in his hands, for the precious crystals of the
Vaal river beds are exceptionally good and free from fractures.
There were few stones ranging over thirty carats, but ten carat
stones were not uncommon, and even the tiniest stones of one
carat or less were usually well shaped. Some were lightly tinged
with yellow, detracting somewhat from their market value, but
there was a large percentage of stones perfectly white, or so nearly
1 "Among the Diamonds," 1870-1871. "The Diamond Diggings of South
Africa," Payton, 1872.
154 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
colorless as to defy any scrutiny except that of experts. Deep
orange yellow stones were occasionally found, and shades of
yellow grading to the finest straw color were represented as well
as pale blue, brown, and pink, and other hues; but any color
except white or yellow was rarely to be seen. The commonest
crystalline form was the octahedron, but perfect dodecahedrons
were not unusual, and twin stones or a conglomeration of crys-
tals sometimes appeared. There was no adhering film or enve-
lope such as commonly dulls the lustre of the Brazilian diamond
crystals. The stones of the Vaal are clear and bright.1
Digging for diamonds never becomes dull drudgery, for there
is always the glittering possibility in the mind's eye of upheaving
a king's ransom with the turn of a shovel, and it is far more
exciting to a novice than mining for gold or any other minerals.
But the diggers on the Vaal River fields soon learned that the
actual disclosure of a diamond on the face of the gravel which
he was shovelling was a very rare occurrence, for only the largest
stones were likely to be seen in a mass of earth and pebbles, and
few even of these were actually detected in the sinking of the
pits on the river banks. So the miners were rarely so absorbed
in their search that they worked without stopping to eat, but
they clung to the last gleams of the sun as the miners have done
in the rich gold pocket placers of America and Australia. The
diggers and washers went to work usually at the same hour,
about sunrise, took an hour off for breakfast, and for dinner or
lunch, and stopped work when the sun went down. In the
hotter weeks of the African summer season (the summer —
November, December, January, and February — is the hot as
well as the wet season) they did little or no work in the midday,
and when heavy rain and hail storms swept over the fields, all
sought for cover.
1 " South African Diamond Fields and Journey to Mines," William Jacob
Morton, New York, 1877. " The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton,
1872. "Diamonds and Gold of South Africa," Mitchell, 1888. "To the
Cape for Diamonds," Frederic Boyle, London, 1873. "Diamond Fields of South
Africa, by One who has visited the Fields," New York, 1872.
THE CAMPS ON THE VAAL
155
Camping on the banks of the Vaal was rarely unpleasant to
any one accustomed to a life in the open country, and even the
townsmen found little to grumble about. As soon as they
reached the Diamond Fields, the prospectors looked about for
good spots on which to lodge their wagons and pitch their tents.
Some took to the fields small circular or " bell " tents, but the
greater part preferred a square or oblong "wall" tent, commonly
ten feet long and eight wide. From a central ridgepole,
propped at each end, the canvas roof was stretched to side posts
four feet high, from which flaps hung to the ground. This
shelter served as a home for two or three men, and a storehouse
for their stinted outfit. It was not spacious, but even a little
tent was a welcome change from the cramped bunking in mass
under a wagon cover, and the airy, clean, canvas chamber was
Washing Diamond Gravel by Machinery at Gong Gong, 1880.
much pleasanter than the ordinary farmer's sleeping room, as
many of the prospectors remarked from experience. Even when
the campers were obliged, for lack of tents, to sleep in their
wagons, the big arched wagon did not suffer by comparison with
any Boer's hut on the veld. The tents were pitched, sometimes
under the cover of the larger trees lining the river bank, and
sometimes on sheltered slopes, but the mass at Klip-drift were
bare to the sun, and exposed to the blast of every storm that
tore through the valley.
Often these storms were terrific, opening with the rising of a
156 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
yellow streak above the horizon, and the rapid spreading over
the blue sky dome of rolling masses of heavy, lurid clouds.
Lightning at Kimberley.
Then from the coppery bosom of this pall there came such blaz-
ing streams of lightning in sheets and contorted shafts, such
rending explosions of thunder peals, that the awful flare and
crash would shake the nerves of hardened men. With this
Day View, Same Scene.
appalling discharge there poured from the clouds torrents of
rain, or a volley of huge hailstones rattling on the canvas roofs
THE CAMPS ON THE VAAL 157
and driving man and beast to the nearest shelter.1 As a safe-
guard from these electric bolts the miners commonly put iron
lightning rods alongside of their tent poles and insulated them
with the necks of glass bottles, but the insecurity of this shield
was evident in the occasional shattering of a tent and the killing
or maiming of its occupants.2
Except for these storms the climate of the Vaal valley was
generally agreeable. The winter days were particularly pleasant,
for the sun soon warmed the air even when the nights were so
o
cold that ice formed on the face of water-troughs. In midsum-
mer the days were often exceedingly hot, the mercury rising as
high as 100 Fah. in the shade; but the dry air was not nearly
as enervating as the humid atmosphere of summer days in
Europe or America, and the lightly clothed miners, avoiding the
midday glare, suffered little. There was a notable exemption
from sickness throughout the year, except for diarrhcea and
dysentery, and fever contracted in summer chiefly from the reck-
less use of unboiled and unfiltered river water.3
Plain food of some kind was plentiful and cheap, especially
maize meal, commonly called mealie meal, and mutton and game
were brought into the camp from the neighboring Transvaal and
Free State farming and pasture lands. There were many wild
fowls, too, that flocked to the valley of the Vaal, and several
kinds of food fish abounded in the river, especially one resem-
bling the voracious English barbel, or the catfish of America, and
the one which the miners called " yellow fish." The chief lack
in the food supply was cheap and wholesome vegetables — for
the dearth of these and the excess of meat caused a mild form of
scurvy to appear in the camp. Fuel for cooking was readily cut
from the trees along the river bank or from the thickets in the
ravines.4
When the choice locations on the Klip-drift bank were taken,
the influx, continuously moving to the new Diamond Fields from
the coast, spread up and down the river, and little camps sprang
1 The Diamond News, Klip-drift, Nov. 4, 1871. 3 Ibid.
2 "The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872. •* Ibid.
158 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
up at Gong Gong, Union Kopje, Delport's Hope, Forlorn Hope,
Niekerk's Rush, Blue Jacket, Waldek's Plant, Larkin's Flat,
and other placer diggings, extending from Hebron twenty miles
northeast of Klip-drift to Sefonell's, sixty miles west.1 It has
been estimated that ten thousand diggers, white and black, were
stretched along the river in this string of camps, and in roving
parties of prospectors.2 Any possible reckoning of the extent
of a rush of thousands, which nobody could measure exactly or
tried to measure, was of course a rough guess, but it seems prob-
able that this guess was not very far from the fact. Such an
influx of restless adventurers, pouring along a river line in a
thinly peopled territory in the heart
of South Africa, as heedless as a
locust swarm of any questions of
state sovereignty, or native tribal
reservations, or mineral right titles,
was certain to raise a rumpus, if
any official authority in South Africa
undertook to drive them away, or
exact heavy license fees, or even to
hold them down under strict laws
The Largest River Diamond ever found • i r j T>L \
in south Africa. Weight, 33o| Car- rigorously enforced. The Austra-
ats; Value, £3,500; Full Size. jian gojd falfe fad furnished SOmC
highly significant object lessons enforcing this certainty, but the
little Boer Republics were not disposed to learn any lesson
from the experience of English Colonies.
The South African Republic claimed the diamond placer bor-
der north and west of the Vaal as part of its territory, but it was
content, at first, with the bare assumption that the diggers on
the northern and western bank were within the confines of its
domain, without caring to assert its right of control by any
marked interference with the free proceedings of the diggers.
It did not regard the upturning of gravel on its border line as
any menace of serious intrusion within its territory, and the
1 "Among the Diamonds," 1870-1871.
2 " South African Diamond Fields," Morton, 1877.
THE CAMPS ON THE VAAL 159
neighboring Boer farmers were generally well pleased with the
opening of ready markets for their produce. Representatives
of the Republic were recognized as officers of the law at Hebron,
but there was little attempt to impress any recognition of its
authority on the camps farther down the Vaal.1
So the miners at Klip-drift went on digging and scraping the
gravel, under their own simple regulations, month after month,
until their busy camp burst suddenly into an uproar, when the
news came in that President Pretorius and the Executive Coun-
cil of the Transvaal Republic had granted to a firm of three privi-
leged persons the exclusive right to search for diamonds in the
territory of the Republic for a term of twenty years from June 22,
1870, subject to a royalty of six per cent upon the value of all
diamonds discovered.'2 There were some old Australian placer
miners on the Vaal River Diamond Fields, and they doubtless
grinned at the thought of the reception that such a proclamation
would have met with at Bendigo and Ballarat; but it was not
necessary for an adventurer to have had a rearing on any gold
placer field to fire his spirit to revolt against an edict of dispos-
session and monopoly. It is idle to debate the question of the
technical legal right of the administration of the South African
Republic to make this grant. This may be conceded without
affecting the countering facts of its gross partiality, inexpediency,
and practical futility. The whole regular army of the United
States would have been too small to enforce any such disposition of
its mineral lands after they had been occupied without protest for
more than six months by squatting placer miners, and bare com-
mon sense would have sufficed to inform the administration of
the little South African Republic that it could not give effect to
its paper monopoly without a succession of fights that would add
another " Blood River " to the face of South Africa.
The instant effect of the grant was a universal uprising and
mass meeting of the Klip-drift camp, and the declaration of the
foundation of another free and independent Republic on the Vaal,
1 " Among the Diamonds," 1870-1871.
2 "South Africa," George McCall Theal, 1888-1893.
160 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
of which Stafford Parker, one of the leading adventurers, was
chosen president.1 This was, on its face, a proceeding that
smacked of opera bouffe, but, like Janus, it had another face.
It was a flaunt of determination to cut off every shred of political
connection with the South African Republic, and hold possession
of a slice of rich mining land with a Colony which, at some future
time, if not immediately, Great Britain might be disposed to
welcome and incorporate with her imperial cluster on the coast.
If this hope was not openly avowed at first, it undoubtedly ex-
isted in the minds of many of the diggers, and no time was lost
in communicating the situation to her Majesty's High Com-
missioner at the Cape, Lieutenant General Hay.
It is, however, unlikely that there was any confident expecta-
tion of the endurance of the new Republic founded on a gravel
bank whose precious contents were fast fleeting, but the organi-
zation was set up as a handy resort, on the spur of the moment,
to make an imposing show of resistance to the authority of the
South African Republic, and with the idea of shunning the pen-
alty of forcibly contesting the execution of the monopoly grant
within a recognized district of its domain. Whatever legal
unsoundness there may have been in the construction of the
Klip-drift Republic, and in the notions of its framers, the shaky
ship of state served its main purpose. The administration of
the Transvaal Republic realized their grave blunder too late,
and being humane and peace-loving men, refrained from any
attempt to maintain their grant or their contested authority by
force of arms. But they complained earnestly to the British
Colonial authorities of the intrusion and illegal occupation and
insubordination of the squatting adventurers on the Vaal.
Meanwhile the diamond diggers did not concern themselves
with the remote vexation of the Boer President and Council, but
kept on ransacking the gravel. Early in the year there had
been some straggling prospecting on the Pniel bank opposite
Klip-drift, but the first continuous work on a south bank placer
1 " South Africa," George McCall Theal, 1888-1893. "Among the
Diamonds," 1870—1871.
THE CAMPS ON THE VAAL 161
was begun in June by a party from the Klip-drift camp.1 Their
undertaking was an unwelcome intrusion on land claimed by the
Pniel Mission, and the diggers were warned of their trespassing
by the clergyman in charge. The Mission Station was several
miles from the diamond placer, and the diggers ignored the
notice, as they were not interfering apparently with the mission
work by washing river bank gravel. The placer ground proved
so rich that the diggers flocked to it rapidly, and the Berlin
Society which maintained the missions at Pniel and Hebron
was soon glad to obtain the license fee which it was generally
able to secure from the diggers on the Pniel field. The pre-
ferred locations on the Pniel bank were along a stretch in the
middle of the rising ground, a few yards from the water's edge.
In this tract diamonds were strewn so continuously as to suggest
the existence of a flow or stream of them, in the red drift gravel
between the boulders, to the eye of more than one observer.
This strip was soon honeycombed with shallow pits reaching
bedrock about twenty-five feet below the surface.2
The flow of prospectors continued to spread until the Pniel
camp, in a few months, rivalled Klip-drift in size, and the two
contained a population of four or five thousand people. Small
stone, brick, and iron buildings for stores and other business
uses were quickly put up in rows along a main street in the
heart of Klip-drift camp, which bore the name of Campbell
Street, and a few others of the same durable materials rose from
other spots in the fields, but most of the miners continued to
live in their canvas tents, or in reed huts plastered with clay.
The stone for building was readily obtained from neighboring
hillsides, and was neatly cut and laid, so that Campbell Street
soon compared favorably with any country town street in South
Africa. Butchers, bakers, and grocers opened shops ; restau-
rants offered good, plainly cooked food at charges so moderate
that it was reckoned that a man could be well fed at a cost of
is. 6d. a day; a tavern and lodging-house, dignified by the name
of hotel, accommodated travellers and regular boarders; diamond
1 "Among the Diamonds," 1870-1871. 2 Ibid.
162 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
brokers sat ready to judge and buy rough diamonds for export ;
a music hall had a rude vaudeville show every week-day night ;
members of the Masonic fraternity established a lodge; and a
little brick church welcomed all comers to its Sunday services.1
Similar buildings were put up less regularly in the Pniel
camp too, and both sides of
the river showed the like med-
ley of iron, brick, stone, light
wood, and canvas stores and
dwellings. The first mining-
town newspaper in South Africa,
Views of Klip-drift.
the Diamond News, was started at
Pniel, — a little four-page sheet
that was chiefly filled with adver-
tisements of local tradesmen on
both sides of the river, and the local news and stir of the river
diggings. Rowboats of an established ferry made regular trips
across the river from one camp ground to the other, charging a
passenger sixpence for crossing. So there was easy communi-
cation, and the two camps were one in their common appearance,
1 "Among the Diamonds," 1870-1871. ft The Diamond Diggings of South
Africa," Payton, 1872.
THE CAMPS ON THE VAAL 163
work and sympathy, though the Pniel camp did not pretend to
the dignity of an independent Republic, but submitted meekly
to the payment of license fees to the Berlin Mission Society and
to the assertion of the sovereignty of the Orange Free State,
represented by a local magistrate, with the adjuncts of a canvas
jail, whipping-posts, and stocks.1
Oddly enough, in view of the shallow gravel bed which was
the sole support of these camps, the approach of collapse was
not clearly foreseen. An observer of more than ordinary intel-
ligence visited the camp at the close of the year 1870, and noted
the exhaustion of the rich ridge gravel back of Campbell Street,
where more than two thousand diggers were at work a few
months before. Yet, while remarking the drift of prospectors
to outlying placers, he wrote, " Notwithstanding this, Klip-drift
flourishes, and together with Pniel will no doubt always continue
to be a head centre of the diamond-digging community." For
this sanguine view there was some justification in the general
ignorance of the actual extent of the diamond beds in the alluvial
deposit, and in the common declaration of a purpose to persist
in searching for diamonds, even by those whose hard luck
forced them to abandon the fields for a time. " Hope's blest
dominion never ends " to the most unfortunate laborer. This
visitor did not meet one of the many leaving the ground with
empty pockets who did not protest his resolution to return to
the diggings in the following March or April after the heat and
storms of the summer season on the Vaal were past.2 Fortu-
nately for these luckless adventurers, there was a new and phe-
nomenal development of other Diamond Fields, whose output
soon dwarfed all the returns from the shallow River Diggings.
1 "Among the Diamonds," 1870-1871. "South Africa," George McCall
Theal, 1888-1893.
2 " Among the Diamonds," 1870-1871.
CHAPTER VI
THE RUSH TO KIMBERLEY
HERE was a pretty green valley near the Free
State settlement of Fauresmith, hardly a mile
in width, but stretching for several miles to the
northeast through ridges of volcanic rock kopjes.
Fauresmith lay in the track of the stream flow-
ing from the coast ports to the diamond-bearing
valley of the Vaal, but there was no thought of a probable dia-
mond field on the plateau so far from a river bed. So for
months the adventurers passed on without pausing, except for
a night's camp, on their way to the Vaal. A Boer settler, Cor-
nells Johannes Vistser, had taken up a considerable part of the
neighboring valley in his farm of Jagersfontein, where his house
stood in the midst of a gay, blooming garden. He had died
before the discovery of diamonds, but his farm was held by his
widow, Jacoba Magdalena Cecilia Visser, and worked by an over-
seer in charge.
A little stream, flowing from the hills, ran through the valley
in the rainy season, though for the greater part of the year its
track was only marked by a spruit or dry water-course. De
Klerk, the overseer, noticed that many small garnets mixed with
pebbles of agate were sprinkled along the dry bed of this spruit,
and learned that the diggers on the Vaal believed garnets to be
an indication of the presence of diamonds. So he began pros-
pecting one day in August, 1870, on the line of the spruit, awk-
wardly sifting the dry gravel and sand in a common wire sieve.
At the depth of six feet he found a fine diamond of fifty carats,
and the news of his discovery was soon widely spread throughout
the Free State.1
1 "Among the Diamonds," 1870-1871.
164
THE RUSH TO KIMBERLEY 165
His neighbors flocked first to the farm, and the thrifty widow
Visser was pleased to welcome them, and permitted them to dig
in her spruit, on allotted patches of twenty feet square, for which
each paid her a license fee of £1 a month. The phlegmatic
Boers were not wildly excited by the prospect of fortune hid in
the spruit, but diamond hunting was an agreeable diversion from
dull farming, and they came with their wives and children in their
big canvas-covered wagons, and spread out through the green val-
ley like country folk at a picnic. The children delighted in their
search for pretty pebbles and soon filled their pockets with gar-
nets and agates ; but the digging in the spruit was often so labo-
rious that the farmers were content to squat on the ground and
puff their long pipes while their black servants did the digging
and rock heaving. When natives were not engaged as diggers,
the farmers and their sons indolently shovelled out the gravel in
heaps to be sorted by their wives and children.
Underneath the red surface soil filled with pebbles, there was
a layer of calcareous clay, varying in thickness from a few feet to
twelve or more, covering drifts and pockets of gravel thickly
sprinkled with heavy boulders of greenstone and basalt. It was
necessary to pry up and tug out these boulders in order to reach
the underlying gravel, and this task was no child's play. Then the
gravel was pitched out of the holes, rudely sorted by dry sifting
in sieves, and picked over by hand in search of the precious
stones. In some pockets there was quite a sprinkling of diamonds,
garnets and peridot, mixed with coarse gravel, and the returns far
exceeded the license charge ; but the diamond deposit was scat-
tered as irregularly as that of the Vaal River field, and many of the
workers toiled for weeks on their claims without finding anything
more precious than the jawbones and teeth of a hyena or jackal.1
Attention had hardly been called to the diggings at Jagers-
fontein when a still more remarkable discovery was made in the
month of September, 1870, at Dutoitspan,2 on the farm of Dorst-
1 "Among the Diamonds," 1870-1871.
2 The original and correct form of this name was " Du Toit's Pan," or the
pan or pond of du Toit, the name of the man who first owned the farm. Both Du
Toit's Pan and Dutoitspan are now used.
166 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
fontein, about twenty miles southeast of Pniel and Klip-drift on
the Vaal. Du Toit's pan was one of the curious natural land
basins before described, receiving the wash of the surrounding
ridges, and holding pools of water during the rainy season and
sometimes during the year. The title to the farm Dorstfontein
was granted by the Free State Government to Abraham Pauls du
Toit on the 4th of April, 1860. Du Toit sold the farm to
Adriaan J. van Wyk, who had built a little house near the side
of the " pan," where he was living indifferent to the rush of
prospectors to the Vaal River, until he was suddenly surprised
by the finding of diamonds a short distance from his house.
When the news of this discovery spread, coming, as it did, so
close upon the revelation at Jagersfontein, there was an instant
rush of prospectors from the Vaal to the new field, swelled by
the neighboring farmers and the influx still flowing from the
coast towns. Van Wyk demanded, at first, a royalty of one-
fourth of the value of all diamonds found on his farm, from
every prospector seeking to explore the new field ; but he soon
concluded to issue licenses at a charge of js. 6d. monthly for
every allotted claim of thirty feet square. The Orange Free
State government was aroused to assert its claim of sovereignty
by the spread of the discoveries, and attempted to restrict the
allotment of the claims on the farm land, for the benefit of its
own citizens, by an ordinance prohibiting the issuance of licenses
to any one except a Free State burgher or farmer ; but this
requirement was easily evaded at Jagersfontein and Dutoitspan
by the transfer of licenses granted to Free State citizens. Fur-
thermore, the spread of the news of the discovery and the result-
ant rush to the Diamond Fields was soon beyond any possible
restriction imposed by this little Republic.1 Van Wyk was pre-
vailed upon without much difficulty to sell his farm to the
predecessors of the London and South African Exploration
Company for ^2600, a fortune far surpassing any glitter of
pebbles in the ground, in the view of this simple farmer.
Side by side with the Dorstfontein farm lay the farm of Bult-
1 "South Africa," Theal, 1888-1893.
THE RUSH TO KIMBERLEY 167
fontein, divided by a public roadway. The spread of prospect-
ing soon passed naturally across the road to Bultfontein and to
other neighboring farms. Bultfontein was owned by a poor
Boer, Cornelis Hendrik du Plooy, and before the discovery at
Dutoitspan a thousand pounds would have been thought a
grossly extravagant price to pay for the whole farm and its live
stock. But the luck of van Wyk put a new face on the scrubby
farm lands near the Vaal, and an eager Free State speculator,
Thomas Lynch, did not wait over Sunday to buy Bultfontein,
but amazed the owner by driving out to his farm on the Lord's
Day, November 14, 1869, and offering ^£2000 for his land. Du
Plooy accepted the offer on the spot, for such a sum in cash was
vastly bigger in his eyes than any possible return from farming
or picking up " blink klippe." It is said that diamonds had
been found on the farm previous to this sale, but Du Plooy was
not aware of any actual discovery on his land, and preferred cash
in hand to any gambling chances. The story is told that Bult-
fontein mine was discovered by the finding of a diamond in the
mortar used by du Plooy to plaster his house and the subsequent
search for diamonds in the pit from which the sand had been
taken. It is true that diamonds were found as reported, but it
was some time after the mine had been rushed.1
On the same day that du Plooy sold his farm to Lynch,
he was beset by Leopold Lilienfeld and others, who advised
him that the sale was illegal, being made on a Sunday, and
eventually Lilienfeld gave du Plooy an indemnity against all
damages if he would refuse to conclude the sale to Lynch.
On November 16, 1869, the sale of the farm was concluded
between du Plooy and Leopold Lilienfeld, Louis Hond and
Henry Barlow Webb for the sum of £1000. Hond sold his
one-third interest to Webb, who, with Lilienfeld, Edgar Eager
Hurley, and others, formed the " Hopetown Company."
Lynch brought action against du Plooy for ^£ 10,000 damages,
and obtained a judgment for ^500 and costs on August 19, 1872.
In spite of his indemnity du Plooy was then obliged to sue
i" Among the Diamonds," John Noble, 1870-1871.
168 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Lilienfeld and his associates, and obtained judgment for £760
19-f. id. and costs, February 12, 1893. In 1876, when the Land
Commission heard this case, the London and South African Ex-
ploration Company had been formed, and the title to the farm
was granted to that company, as successors of the " Hopetown
Company."
Bultfontein was linked to Dorstfontein by the acquisition of
both farms by one holder, and transferred in a subsequent sale to
investors associated as the London and South African Explora-
tion Company. The farm of Vooruitzigt, which lay bordering
on Dorstfontein and Bultfontein to the north, was bought for
^£6000 shortly after by other speculative investors, — -the firm of
Messrs. Dunell, Ebden & Co., of Port Elizabeth.
The correct record of these farms is as follows : —
Bultfontein was originally granted by the British Govern-
ment (then occupying the Free State under the name of " The
Orange River Sovereignty") to J. F. Otto, December 16, 1848,
under Warden certificate.
Dorstfontein was granted by the Free State Government to
Abraham Pauls du Toit on the 4th of April, 1860.
Alexandersfontein was granted by the Free State Govern-
ment to Johannes Cornelis Coetzee on the jd of December, 1862.
That portion cut off by the Free State boundary from Griqua-
land West was granted to Philip Rudolph Nel and Willem
Gabriel Nel on the i6th of January, 1880.
Vooruitzigt was originally a portion of Bultfontein, and was
sold to D. A. and J. N. de Beer on the i8th of April, 1860.
At the time of these purchases the price paid for any ground
outside of a short stretch on the Dorstfontein farm was wholly
speculative. There had been no considerable discovery of dia-
monds except along the top of a sloping ridge or long kopje
lying north, at a distance of about a third of a mile, from du
Toit's pan. The total area of the three farms was about fifty-
eight and a half (58^) square miles.1 The comparative ease of
1 The total area of the farms, Dorstfontein (6579 acres), Bultfontein (14,457
acres), and Vooruitzigt (16,405 acres), is 37,441 acres, equal to 58^ square miles.
OF THE
UNIVERSITY
OF
THE RUSH TO KIMBERLEY
169
Kimberley, 1872.
working in the new fields was a pleasant surprise to the River
Diggers, who had been obliged to sink pits in heavy gravel thick
set with boulders. Now they found diamonds sprinkled through
a light surface soil of decomposed yellow ground, and many
stones were so thinly covered with earth that some little brilliant
crystals were washed free from sand after every heavy rain, and
lay shining on the ground, to be picked up by sharp-eyed dia-
mond seekers.1 The mines were not covered with basalt, but in
many cases with a layer of rather hard limestone or calcareous
tufa similar to that which covers a large part of the surface of
the country in this neighborhood, which has been metamorphosed
by the evaporation of water charged with carbonate of lime.
The first swarm of prospectors on the ground supposed that
the diamonds of Dutoitspan were simply a sprinkling strewn
through a sand wash like the river-shore deposit. When their
shovels struck an underlying stratum of limestone with streaks
of greenish shale, at a depth of two feet or less, they presumed
that this corresponded to the known bedrock of the placers
along the Vaal, and had no thought that it was a casing for any
precious stones. So they simply dug through the soil and
shovelled the' ground into heaps to be sifted dry with common
wire sieves of coarse and fine mesh. There were no boulders
in this soil and few large stones, so that their claims could be
rapidly worked.2
The ground contained a plentiful sprinkling of small yellow-
ish diamonds and some larger stones, but the deposit was so
shallow that it soon was exhausted. In the course of a week or
two one dieeer with the help of a sorter shovelled and sifted all
DO I
the ground of his claim, thirty feet square, and moved to another,
or rambled off prospecting over the farm lands.8 There seemed
1 " The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872.
2 Ibid. * Ibid.
170 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
no prospect to him that the Dutoitspan ridge still held anything
to reward the labor of penetrating a rock bed. But after many
prospectors had ransacked the soil of their claims and abandoned
them, one of the workers on the ridge or elevated land had the
fancy to see what might possibly lie under the stratum of lime-
stone, and determined to cut a few feet, at least, through the rock.
He found that the limestone soon grew so soft and rotten that
it could be split easily by the stroke of a pick and the lumps
crushed by the blow of a shovel. This rotten rock fused soon
with a curious decomposed breccia of a yellowish color, and
the sifting of this ground showed, to his amazed eyes, the
presence of diamonds sparkling on his sieve or on the sorting
table.1
With the spreading of this discovery there came another
rush of diggers to the ridge that soon covered every patch of
unoccupied ground on its slopes. Foot after foot the mining
pits sunk through the soft cement, which was often so decom-
posed that jhe point of a pick pierced it like a mass of dried
mud. Instead of decreasing in number, the quantity of gems
in a claim often increased with the deepening of the pits, and
the proportion of large rough diamonds was far greater below
the depth of a fathom than in the surface soil or the crust of the
limestone stratum. Payton says that fragments of volcanic
rocks — green trap and basalt chiefly — were scattered through
the limestone and yellow ground ; but there were very few large
boulders, and the work of mining was far less laborious than
any pit-driving in the river bank at Klip-drift and Pniel.2
Some cut adits at varying angles in the slope of the ridge,
and carried out their ground in buckets or wheelbarrows. This
method of mining shunned the toil of lifting heavy buckets out
of the pits, but it was dangerous from the frequent ground
slides and rock falls, and caused many a wrangle when adit lines
crossed or pits met the tunnels. Others opened their claims
by cutting a series of descending stages, diminishing in size step
by step, so that the pit bottom was reached by passing down a
1 "The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872. 2 Ibid.
THE RUSH TO KIMBERLEY 171
rude rock staircase. This was a rapid and convenient mode of
opening ground at the start, but where claims were only thirty
feet square, it was clear that no single claim-holder could go far
down in this way without reaching a point where the bottom
step of his staircase would cover the floor of his claim. For this
reason many preferred to mine more slowly in small perpen-
dicular shafts, in whose side little niches, familiarly known as toe
holes, were cut, so that agile men could clamber up and down.
Or the shaft bottom was reached by means of a knotted rope or
riem of rawhide, dangling into the pit from a post set in the
ground near the mouth of the shaft. When a bucket was filled
with broken rock by a digger working on a pit floor, his mate
hauled up the load by winding a rope stretching from the handle
over a rude windlass, or by sheer lifting. When only one
digger was holding a claim, he was obliged to clamber out of
his pit and haul up his bucket whenever he filled it.
To extract the diamonds the broken rock was pulverized
by beating with shovels and then screened in a common
round sieve of coarse mesh, to separate the larger stones
that were worthless. After this screening the ground passing
through the coarse wire mesh was carefully sifted, a second time,
in a rocking sieve of fine, strong wire. This sieve was set in
an oblong frame, usually about three feet long and two broad,
with handles at one end and deep notches at the other, gripping
a narrow strip of rawhide stretched between two upright posts
called sieve props. When this rocker was swung rapidly, all
the sand and dust fell through the wire mesh, leaving a concen-
trate of fine chips and little pebbles of limestone, talc, basalt, and
trap, carrying a sprinkling of garnets, peridot, and an occasional
diamond crystal. This concentrate was then taken to a sorting
table and scraped over in the same way as the river gravel.1
Diamond winning on the upland was easier, at first, than
working the river placers ; but there was one common annoy-
ance which was much more irritating on the new fields than at
1 "The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872. "Among the
Diamonds," 1870-1871.
1 72 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
the river diggings. Hot winds blew the red dust from the sur-
rounding veld in clouds over the workers, and these dust blasts
were mixed with the powdered white limestone and pulverized
cement of the ridge, shaken through the sieves and blown in
the faces of the miners, inflaming their eyes, clogging their
noses, and even coating their skin through their clothes. So
fine was this powder and so sharply blown that it penetrated
even hunting-case watches, and few watches could be kept run-
ning after a month at the diggings of Dutoitspan.1
But this was comparatively a trivial concern to ardent dia-
mond seekers, winning the precious stones so frequently.
Every day swelled the rush of adventurers to the pan, bargain-
ing for halves, quarters, and even eighths of a claim on the
ridge, and roaming over every foot of ground of Dorstfontein
and the neighboring farms of Bultfontein, Vooruitzigt, and Alex-
andersfontein in search of new diamond beds. Oddly enough,
as the prospectors thought, no spot on the whole farm of Dorst-
fontein rewarded their search outside of the ridge near the pan,
and for months no better luck attended the hunting for dia-
monds over the neighboring farms. But where one party of
the ardent seekers failed to find diamonds, another followed on
its track and scoured the face of the farms with shovels and
sieves, with a persistence that was certain to be rewarded, in
time, if any diamond surface beds existed outside of the ridge
at Dutoitspan. In the frequent sinking of pits, also, in the
basins, for water, there was the further chance of piercing some
hidden bed of diamonds, for the search for springs was hardly
less keen than the quest for precious stones.
So, early in i8yi,2 diamonds were unearthed in the surface
soil close to the farmhouse of Bultfontein. This discovery was
followed in the first days of May by the discovery of diamonds
on de Beer's farm, Vooruitzigt, about two miles from Dutoits-
pan.3 Two months later a second diamond bed was uncov-
1 "The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Pay ton, 1872. 2 Ibid.
3 Ibid. [These dates differ somewhat from those given by Theal and others.
Payton was on the ground in July, 1871, and his account should be most accurate.]
bne aisaS sQ stfi rbiriw n<-
i II AFRICA
.-, -ed Just from the sur-
. and these dust blasts
» ..aiesrone and pulverized
the sieves and blown in
-heir eyes, clogging their
nrouch their clothes. So
, Viown that it penetrated
. hes could be kept run-
• roirspan.1
••/r.cern to ardent dia-
o! es so frequently.
-> the pan, bargain-
a claim on the
f Dorstfontein
•>i.:f, and Alex-
> . ily enough,
The Homestead of^he Farm Vooruitzigt on which are De Beers and
Kimberley Mines.
•\£ for dia-
party of
r:i:j,_; followed on
i)f riv: ;t!'i shovels and
\v:is ccrra •. be rewarded, in
• l«.;-ii> exists i viutsicle of the ridge
.iuern. si^kiirj- of [v,ts, also, in the
-lie further cr.aix^ ' v'^rting some
for ' seitu'h f--; • js was hardly
.liamot-d- werv unc in the surface
' -•-..- r,| U'i':;o.':ci i. i :-iv discovery was
,, M:t\ bv :iv. • cry of diamonds
ftv .). •"•!, :ibr.'.! • ' cules from Dutoits-
.np.;l .;4i t!Vit.!:d bed was uncov-
,.n. iH-z. - Ibid.
, i;'f. . ,.- .> . ...\. . t>v Theal and others,
j-i j;: : -..iin -\\ •:. :J He iiv/,t accurate.]
OF -h'5
UNIVERSE
OP
THE RUSH TO KIMBERLEY
173
ered on the same farm, lying on a gently sloping kopje, at a
distance from the first location roughly reckoned at a mile.
This kopje had been searched twice by prospectors, it is said,
without success, and one report says that the deposit was finally
discovered through the sinking of a well on the ground.1 The
diggers drove their well down seventy-six feet without finding
water, but at this depth one was amazed to see a diamond of
eighty-seven carats sparkling on the wall of his dry pit.
So many conflicting state-
ments have been made as to
the discovery of the first dia-
mond at this location, called
New Rush or Colesberg Kopje,
and afterward famous as Kim-
berley Mine, that I have been
perplexed to decide to which
story the most credence should
be given. The difficulty in ob-
taining trustworthy data arises
from the fact that few of the
original diggers are still alive,
and that most of those who
are still living are scattered to
all parts of the world. More-
over one cannot always rely
upon the accuracy of the mem-
ory of the old diggers now living upon the Fields as to dates
and details after the lapse of more than thirty years. After
diligent sifting of all reports and records, however, the following
conclusion may be said to be well determined.
Through the courtesy of Mrs. Grimmer, the widow of Dr.
Grimmer, a practising physician at Colesberg when the Diamond
Fields were discovered, I was enabled to meet Mrs. Raw-
storne, the mother of Fleetwood Rawstorne, then (1900) living
at Cape Town. She is a fine-looking old lady, as her portrait
1 "The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Pay ton, 1872.
Mrs. Rawstorne.
174 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
shows, well preserved after a long and eventful life in South
Africa. She was eighty-two years old at the time of our meeting.
Her memory took her back to the days of the discovery, and
she related the incidents of the Fields as clearly as if they had
happened but yesterday. The photograph, here reproduced, of
the discoverer of Kimberley mine and his party was taken a few
days after the discovery of diamonds on Colesberg Kopje.
Fleetwood Rawstorne stands in the middle of the group (page
175), in the shade of a fine specimen of the camelthorn trees
which grew upon the mine. They
had only begun to dig prospect-
ing holes. The cut on page 176
shows the primitive method of
working the diamond - bearing
ground. I had the story of the
discovery also from Mr. T. B.
Kisch, who states that he is the
only one now living of the first
four locators.
Fleetwood Rawstorne, T. B.
Kisch, and two other diggers
were prospecting on this kopje
during the month of July, 1871.
Some of the party thought they
saw "indications" of diamond
deposits, and Rawstorne sent his
Kafir servant to prospect thor-
oughly the spot in view. The Kafir returned to his master with
a diamond of about two carats weight. This discovery was made
known at once to the other members of the party, and all went
immediately to the spot and marked and pegged off" their claims ;
Rawstorne pegging three, two as a reward for discovery and one
as a digger. After the claims had been pegged off Rawstorne
went to the authorities and reported his discovery. On the
following day the government surveyor was sent to mark off the
claims and allot them according to the existing law or custom.
Mr. 'I'. B. Kisch. (The only one now living
of the first party who located claims on
Kimberley Mine.)
THE RUSH TO KIMBERLEY
Kimberley Mine just after the Discovery, July, 1871-
The name of Colesberg Kopje was given to the hillock
because the lucky diggers, headed by Rawstorne, came to
the field from the town of Colesberg, near the Orange River.
The instant flocking of people to the two Vooruitzigt farm
diggings caused them to be roughly distinguished as " De Beers
Rush" or " Old De Beers," and " De Beers New Rush," or the
" Colesberg Kopje " - names which endured some months, until
the " New Rush " was rechristened Kimberley in honor of the
British secretary for the colonies.
This inroad of squatting prospectors was greatly vexing at first
to the owners of the diamond-bearing farms. It disturbed the
use of the ground for stock-raising purposes, and if there were
any diamonds on the land, the purchasing speculators wanted to
hold the beds for their own exclusive development and profit.
But it was soon evident that this design was impracticable. The
swarm that covered the ground could not be held in check by
any force at command of the owners, and stiffly refused to recog-
176 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
nize any assertion of legal claims that took the form of monopoly
titles. The first diggers on the Bultfontein farm were warned
oo
off by the owners for trespass. There was a momentary hesita-
tion till the rush was swelled by numbers so large that the for-
bidden ground was "jumped" in an hour, and diggers upturned
the soil to the very door of the farmhouse. Then the owners
called on the Orange Free State police for help, and the miners
were driven away for some days ; but the certainty of another irre-
sistible rush was so ominous that, toward the end of May (1871),
the proprietors opened the field to all comers on payment of a
license of ten shillings a month for each claim of thirty feet square.1
In the grants of farms by the Dutch East India Company
there had been no reservation of mineral rights, but from the
time of the cession to Great Britain, MacNab says the grant of
lands did not carry a title to " precious stones, gold, and silver,"
which were explicitly excluded, and in 1860 it was enacted in
Kimberley Mine just after the Discovery, July, 1871.
1 " The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872.
Africa," Theal, 1888-1893.
South
THE RUSH TO KIMBERLEY
177
Parliament that no lands containing valuable minerals should
be considered waste lands of the crown for purposes of sale.
This did not apply to Griqualand West, as there was no min-
eral or precious stones act or ordinance in force in this terri-
tory until Ordinance No. 3 of 1871, of the Orange Free State
Government.1 Whether there were mineral reservations in the
diamond-bearing-farm deeds was
not questioned by the inrush-
ing diggers. They would not
suffer exclusion without a fight,
but they were willing to pay small
license charges to the farm own-
ers for the privilege of working
allotted claims. The size of these
claims was fixed by agreement
with representative " Diggers'
Committees," chosen by the pros-
pectors in mass meeting, and these
committees determined also the
simple mining regulations and
camp rules. One committee had
charge of the Dutoitspan and
Bultfontein mining camps, and
another directed the mining at
De Beers and the Colesberg
Kopje, pitching its official tent
midway between these two dia-
mond beds.2
Fleetwood Rawstorne.
The Orange Free State claimed the new diamond fields as
part of its territory, but its right of control was not vigorously
asserted in practice. There was a rising issue from the time of
the discovery at Dutoitspan touching the ownership of the
district containing the diamond-bearing farms and the diggings
on the line of the Vaal. The South African Republic claimed
1 "On Veld and Farm," Frances MacNab, London, 1897.
2 "The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Pay ton, 1872.
178 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
the ground north and west of the river, as before noted, but the
miners at Klip-drift had continued to maintain their rude Republic
or independent camp, drifting into a condition verging on anar-
chy, under the doubtful control of a factious " Executive Commit-
tee," until December 13, 1871, when the camp gladly submitted
to the authority of a provisional magistrate, appointed by
Lieutenant General Hay, her Majesty's High Commissioner.1
This energetic official had his eyes widely open to the possible
value and extent of the new diamond-bearing field, and was not
only disposed to sustain the appeal of the river diggers against
the monopoly grant of the Transvaal Republic, but wrote
to President Brand, the head of the Orange Free State, in
September, 1870, questioning the title of the Free State to the
Dutoitspan fields and the river diggings at Pniel.2
At the time of the creation of the Orange Free State out
of the domain included in the Orange River Sovereignty, there
had been explicit recognition of reservations set apart for the
Basutos, Koranas, and Griquas, — native tribes dwelling within
the limits of the Sovereignty. But there was an apparent lack
of precision in the reservations or claims of the Koranas and
Griquas especially, which was accounted of little consequence at
the time, until the discovery of diamonds, on a tract otherwise
not worth contesting, aroused rival claimants. The Berlin
Mission Society claimed the diggings at Pniel on the strength of
a deed of sale of part of the Korana reserve. Nicholas Waterboer
and other Griqua chiefs, doubtless prompted by speculative agents,
set up their claim to a considerable stretch of ground, covering
Klip-drift and Pniel as well as the upper angle between the
Orange and the Vaal, containing the diamond fields of Dutoits-
pan and the surrounding farms. The Orange Free State did
not dispute the right of the natives to hold such reservations as
had been assigned to them by the British Government, but con-
tended that the stretch of the native tribal claims was wholly
unjustified, and that Pniel and Dutoitspan were clearly within
the bounds of its domain.*
1 "The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872.
2 "South Africa," Theal. 3 Ibid.
THE RUSH TO KIMBERLEY
179
Batlapin Chiefs and their Councillors.
Bolitsitse Gasibone.
A Batlapin Chief and his Councillors.
Some of the Native Chiefs dealt with by Mr. Richard Southey, Lieutenant Governor of Griqualand
West, during his Administration.
i8o THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Sir Henry Barkly succeeded Lieutenant General Hay early
in 1871 as her Majesty's High Commissioner and Governor of
Cape Colony, and was expressly instructed by Earl Kimberley,
the British secretary for the colonies (January 24, 1871), not to
countenance any annexation of territory outside of the uncon-
tested limits of Cape Colony, which the Colony would be
unable to govern and defend with its own unaided resources.
But the new High Commissioner — viewing the situation and
the course of his predecessor, which he cordially approved —
replied to his instructions bluntly that the British Government
" had already gone too far to sdmit of its ceasing to support the
cause of either Waterboer or the diggers." He concluded an
arrangement, accordingly, for the transfer to Great Britain of
the claims of the native chiefs, subject to the ratification of the
Home Government, and his representations secured the consent
of the Ministry, in the following May, to the transfer, and to
the assertion of British sovereignty over the disputed territory,
pending the final decision of the special court of arbitration
which had been convened by the agreement of the contesting
claimants.
The court had been opened, in the previous April (1871),
in the village of Bloemfontein. After considering the evidence
presented, the
judges disagreed,
and the disposi-
tion of the terri-
tory depended
upon the award
of the referee,
Lieutenant Gov-
ernor Keate, of
Natal. This was
not rendered un-
til the 1 7th of October following, and it does not appear that
the decision was hurried or improperly influenced. But it was
1 "South Africa," Theal.
The first Government House and Buildings of the Colony of
Griqualand West.
H AFRICA
i General Hay early
.ioner and Governor of
' icted by Karl Kimberley,
-, januurv 24, 1871), not to
-irory outside of the uncon-
hich the Colony would be
its ',-VMI unaided resources.
• - vifu'iiu; the situation and
h he Cordially approved —
• the British Government
; ceasing to support the
lie concluded an
to Great Britain of
ratification of the
jred the consent
-ansfer, and to
PORTRAIT OF SIR RICHARD SOUTHEY,
Born April 25th, 1808; Died 1901.
*t contesting
'pnl (1871),
-ne evidence
evented, the
f-s disagreed,
.'he disposi-
;>t the terri-
depended
•:pon the award
the referee,
1 .ieutenant Gov-
^^ ernor Keate, of
Natal. This was
not rendered un-
•s not appear that
nceJ, But it was
THE RUSH TO KIMBERLEY
181
warmly denounced as partial in sweeping aside the claims of the
Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic, and confirming
the alleged title of Waterboer and other native chiefs to a tract
covering 17,800 square miles, and including the Dutoitspan,
Bultfontein, De Beers, and Kimberley diamond mines, as well as
Sir Richard Southey's Residence, Kimberley.
the diggings along the Vaal. Four days after this award had
been made, Sir Henry Barldy proclaimed the grant to the native
chiefs a part of the British dominions, as the Crown Colony of
Griqualand West, which was placed under the administration
of a Lieutenant Governor, Mr. Richard Southey.1 Thus the
control of the Diamond Fields was finally determined, and it is
impossible to doubt that this settlement was greatly contributory
to the extraordinary advance of diamond mining in these fields,
as well as to the uplifting and development of the Colonies, and
to the push of civilization into the heart of the dark continent.
It has been contended that the award was unjust to both
of the Boer Republics, and this contention has been supported by
the citation of a court decision rendered several years later, and
the allowance of ^90,000 to the Orange Free State by the Lon-
don Convention of 1876, in compensation for losses sustained
1 "South Africa," Theal.
i8i THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
through the creation of Griqualand West. But it has been
fairly pointed out by the leading historian of South Africa,
Theal, an earnest supporter of the rights of the Orange Free
State and her sister Republic, that the claims of both contest-
ants were weakly presented at the Bloemfontein court, and that
Lieutenant Governor Keate cannot be reproached justly for any
conscious unfairness in deciding the case upon the evidence
before him, in a manner unsatisfactory to the Republics on the
line of the Vaal.
There is, further, the practical view to present of the incor-
poration of the Diamond Fields in Griqualand West, — that this
was the only feasible solution of the situation, at that time,
which guaranteed to the irresistible rush of diamond seekers
from the Cape and all parts of the world a government so
strong that it could enforce its authority without recourse to
arms and bloodshed. Klip-drift had already revolted at the first
preposterous stretch of authority of the South African Repub-
lic, and maintained its independence until it submitted docilely
to the British High Commissioner. The seething influx on the
upland Diamond Fields was clearly on the verge of rebellion
against any Free State regulations restricting their right of
entry or supporting any monopoly title. Great Britain, with
all her array of Imperial power, would not have ventured to
assert such claims as had been set up by both of the Boer
Republics, and could not have enforced them without an army
on the spot. As a matter of fact, she prudently suffered the
miners to occupy the land without any attempt to maintain
crown reservations of mineral rights, even after her supremacy
was undisputed through the formation of the Crown Colony.
The Boer Republics, on the other hand, would have continued
to blunder, almost certainly, as they had been doing, if control
of the Fields had been turned over to them nominally by the
decision of the referee.
It did not appear at that time, either, that there was any
strong desire on the part of the authorities of these Republics
to assume the cost and responsibility and prospect of collision
THE RUSH TO KIMBERLEY 183
which the supported assertion of control of the Diamond Fields
would have involved. The founders of these states had sought
o
only the plain homes of farmers and shepherds on the veld,
under a government of their own choosing. Neither they nor
their children were greatly stirred by the uncovering of dia-
monds, or the prospect of finding more on their lands. They
disliked the spreading rush to the Diamond Fields, even when
it was presumed that their own mines were developing. The
plain, stolid farming folk, stiffly set in their old-fashioned ways,
had little in common with the sanguine adventurers, delighting
in stirs and surprises and novelties. Baines tells a story of the
mobbing of the first surveyor who tried to use a theodolite in
the streets of Potchefstrom, instead of stepping off the distance
in the good old way of the " veld-vlak-meester." He avers,
too, that he was himself made " vogel vrie," " free as a bird for
anybody to shoot at," for the crime of concealing a sextant
about his person.1 This may be a fanciful stretch of fact, but
there is no doubt of the ingrained conservatism of the Boers.
How could such a people sympathize with the impetuous and
ardent spirits that rushed to the Diamond Fields, and what pros-
pect was there of the docile submission of the one to the other !
It can scarcely be questioned, therefore, by a candid observer
that the conclusion of Lieutenant Governor Keate was the best
practical settlement, if not the most impartial and accurate.
It was not to be expected, however, that this significant
departure from the halting policy of former ministries, this for-
ward step of Greater Britain into the heart of a region hitherto
indifferently resigned to the migrating Boers, should be viewed
with resignation by the embittered Republics whose claims were
disallowed. Resentment ran so high in the Transvaal that
President Pretorius was forced to resign. His place was filled
by a clergyman, Thomas Francois Burgers, and, after the short
sharp war for independence in 1 880-81, by Stephen J. Paul
Kruger, a marcher with the Great Trek from the Cape to the
Limpopo, a lion killer from boyhood as dauntless as David,
1 " The Gold Regions of Southeastern Africa," Thomas Baines.
1 84 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
a crafty politician and a religious exhorter, a Covenanter of the
Covenanters, a Boer of the Boers, uncouth, unschooled, con-
ceited, bigoted, grasping, bristling with suspicion and prejudice,
tickled with gross flattery, but a man of iron nerve, intensely
loyal to his people and their push for independence, self-contained,
self-reliant, bold, wary, cunning, ambitious, dominating, fore-
handed— masking his plans, biding his time, resolute in action,
and far-seeing in shaping the future of his Republic. In the in-
clusion of the precious diamond-bearing province in Griqualand
West, an inveterate antagonist of British Imperial extension was
raised to power, whose keen forecast was almost able to over-
balance the impulse of this great accession to the upbuilding of
Greater Britain in South Africa.1 On the coat of arms of the
Transvaal Republic a lion lay crouching, ready to spring. From
the day of Kruger's rise to head the Republic, the lion of the
Transvaal has never shut his eyes nor feared to show his teeth.
While this protracted controversy for the control of the
Diamond Fields was dragging on, the rush to the diggings had
been spreading and moving from the ports of Australia, India,
and China ; from California, Canada, and the Eastern Atlantic
states of the American Union — from Great Britain and Ireland
and the countries of Western and Central Europe ; from every
region of the civilized world, at length, where men of restless
and sanguine temper were living, who could command the price
of the passage to diamond-bearing placers, unmeasured in num-
ber, extent, and richness. The virgin fields of California and
Australia, once so glittering with gold and so potent in attraction,
had lost their glamour with the scouring of their sands and the
passing of their novelties. It had been demonstrated with plain,
cold figures and dismal accuracy that the average farmer was get-
ting far more from his wheat or potato patch than the average
prospector from his scramble in a gold-field. But who could
calculate, or even pretend to predict with any assurance, the pros-
1 " South Africa," Theal. "Impressions of South Africa," James Bryce.
" The Story of South Africa," William Basil Worsfold. " Cecil John Rhodes,"
Biography, " Imperialist."
-I (185)
STEPHEN J. PAUL KRUGER.
(From a Photograph taken at Kimberley, 1884.)
i86 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
pect of fortune in this African wonderland, so phenomenal in
character and so slightly explored ! Here was a strange, luring
beacon in the heart of traditional Ophir, where river banks were
apparently lined with diamonds, where diamonds were strewn
on the face of farms, where children had diamonds to roll like
marbles, where wells were driven through diamond beds, and
huts were plastered with diamond-studded cement. Who would
not rush to a region so sparkling in promise, so embalmed in
traditions of resplendent empire, where another Koh-i-nur might
be lying in wait in the dust for the first passer-by, and where a
lucky adventurer might stuff his pockets with gems far surpass-
ing the hoard of any extortionate nabob, and return home with
a treasure that he could carry as lightly as a full purse !
The river placers had not drawn largely outside of the south-
ern African colonies, but the discoveries at Dutoitspan, Bultfon-
tein, De Beers, and Kimberley were so unexampled, and the
mines on the surface were soon shown to be so marvellous,
that their magnetic attraction was felt all over the globe. Who
can wonder, then, that the flying, inflated, distorted rumors
from this African hot-bed puffed up ardent fancy everywhere as
tongues of flames in tinder, and that men of all nations, call-
ings, and characters were swept along in the rush to the South
African Diamond Fields ! Every sailing ship or steamer that was
bound for a South African port from any part of the world,
in 1871, bore some adventurers to the new fields. Some
had good outfits and supplies of money, while others had barely
been able to scrape together their passage costs. The seamen
on the ship caught the infectious diamond fever, and ran away
when the vessels were moored on the African coast, as their
mates had done, years before, in the ports of California and Aus-
tralia. Nothing but actual bonds could hold back the diamond
seekers, and these would not serve if there was any chance to
cut cords and break irons.
The swarming of adventurers over mountain terraces, veld,
and karoo was more motley and ardent than the first rush to the
Vaal, and every one was consumed by the fear that others ahead
THE RUSH TO KIMBERLEY T87
of him were dividing up the rich ground and a day's delay might
cost him a fortune. So never before was there such a scurrying,
reckless of lagging ox-teams and horses, blazing suns, and blind-
ing dust. What a fuming there was, too, on the river banks
when the sudden floods halted the rush with their impassable
torrents, and the pilgrims on nettles watched the yellow water
run surging, swirling, and whirling between them and their goal !
Most of the adventurers still plodded along with their bul-
lock wagons, but some who could afford to pay roundly G£i2)
for transport were carried to the Diamond Fields by the wagons
of the Inland Transport Company, an enterprising association
Coach leaving Kimberley for the Coast, 1875.
which undertook to run a regular coach-line to the Vaal from
Wellington, the terminus of the short Cape railway in 1870.
The carriage was a long, narrow wagon with five rows of seats
for fourteen passengers and a driver. Only forty pounds of
baggage could be carried by a passenger, but men who were
anxious to reach the mines were ready to start without even a
shift of shirts. Eight wiry horses dragged this rattling wagon
over the rough track at a lively rate, changing teams at relay sta-
tions, from thirty to forty miles apart, and making the trip to the
Vaal in eight or nine days when the way was not blocked by
floods. By this stride of progress the journey from Cape Town
was made in less than a quarter of the time required by the
crawling ox-wagons from the other coast ports, although these
i88 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
towns were two hundred miles nearer the Diamond Fields. This
was proudly noted as an advance of rapid transit, which prom-
ised greater developments, and was one of the many stirring
impulses of the diamond discoveries. But as only one stage-
coach started weekly from Wellington, the chief contribution of
the new line to South Africa lay in its promise rather than its
performance.1 It was the first push of the enterprise which has
followed its hoof tracks' through the African desert with the tire-
less race of the iron horse.
While this swarm was gathering from India, Australia,
Europe, and America, and pressing toward the diamond mines
through the southern Colonial ports, another swarm was enter-
ing the fields from inland Africa. To the native tribesmen the
o
opening of the diamond mines was a certain Golconda. For the
shovelling of gravel under a burning sun, for the heaving of
boulders, for the shaking of cradles in the midst of whirling dust,
for the quarrying in pits and the scraping on sorting tables, —
the wiry sinews, pliant muscles, nimble fingers, and sharp eyes of
Africans, inured to the scorch of the sun, the pelt of the rain,
and the blast of the sand, were greatly serviceable. So there was
a cordial greeting of the influx of natives, ready to work for the
barest pittance of pay while their masters lolled in the shade.
First came the neighboring Griquas, Koranas, and Batlapins,
with Basutos from their southern reservation, followed by a
stream of Zulus, Mahowas, Malakakas, and Hottentots, and
Kafirs of one hundred tribes, ranging east to the Indian Ocean
and far northwest into Namaqua and Bechuana lands and north-
east into Matabeleland and the regions lying beyond the Limpopo
and the Zambesi.2 There was every shade of dusky color in this
throng, from livid and tawny yellow to jet black. Some stalked
proudly over the veld in the full plumage of the Zulu veteran,
with flowing ox-tail girdles, armlets, and anklets, decked with
1 "Among the Diamonds," 1870-1871.
2 " The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872. "South Afri-
can Diamond Fields and Journey to Mines," William James Morton, M.D., New
York, 1877.
.ill AFRICA
ht- Diamond Fields. This
• npid transit, which prom-
A.IS one of the many stirring
cries. Hut as only one stage-
. iip.gton, the thief contribution of
lay in its promise rather than its
irst push of rhe enterprise which has
Mi!.' Afrcan desert with the tire-
India, Australia,
•he diamond mines
^arm was enter-
•ribesmen the
nda. For the
. .• fu- heaving of
i whirling dust,
...rting tables, —
NATIVES SEEKING WORK.
of the rain,
there was
• •rk for the
df" p •- t-)i )• ••" shade.
id Batlapins,
Allowed by a
v:i,. 1 !>>ttentots, and
MIC Indian Ocean
;oua and l»vchiKin;i 'a'v.is and north-
Syini^ bey nn .; the Limpopo
;)t J'isky color in this
an 1 • ;\\n -. -''>.. Some stalked
;ni-.iu;c ot the Zulu veteran,
..-! v. :-ilets, dn< :".kiets, decked with
id I" ru-.i," l'r>: ••:•, i^~2. " S^uth Afri-
vV'ii ."D-« Morton, M.D., New
THE RUSH TO KIMBERLEY 189
waving feathers and gleaming earrings and bracelets. Others
vied with this show in greasy red shakos, faded blouses, and other
cast-off equipments of soldiers and hunters. So the parade ran
down to the barest loin cloth or utter nakedness, through leopard
skin wraps, dirty karosses, ragged breeches, tattered shirts, and
every other meagre covering of the native hunter or shepherd.
Some of this drift to the mines tramped more than a thousand
miles over mountain ridges and sun-scorched veld, swimming
through rivers, scrambling down steep ravines, and plunging deep
in mud and desert sand, to reach their goal, as many did, gaunt
skeletons of men, with bleeding feet, and bodies scratched and
sore and tottering with weariness and hunger.1
Diamonds were no temptation to them. They would not
have walked a mile to pick up a Koh-i-nur. But the white dia-
mond seekers were willing to pay, for a few months' hunting for
little white pebbles, enough to buy a cheap gun and a bag of
powder and balls — most precious of all earthly things in the
eyes of a roving African. Then the white camps were lively,
humming social resorts, abounding with good food and tempting
drink, where black men were welcome and well protected. So
the natives swarmed in faster and faster as the mining progressed
and the news spread to distant regions. Some of this swarm could
be persuaded to remain at the mines for a year or more and work
quite steadily ; but most drifted away, at the end of a few months,
or as soon as they were able to get their coveted guns and powder
pouches. Thus while many thousands flocked yearly to the Fields
from their opening, the outflow kept the supply from swamping
the demand. As this influx from the dark continent met and
mingled with the rush from the outside world in the diamond-
mine workings and camps, how greatly vivid, unique, and stir-
ring were the kaleidoscopic shifts of this strange concourse !
Europe, Asia, Africa, and America had boiled over into a hotch-
potch, splashed on a diamond bed in the heart of South Africa.
1 "The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872. "South Afri-
can Diamond Fields and Journey to Mines," William James Morton, M.D., New
York, 1877.
CHAPTER VII
THE GREAT WHITE CAMPS
OW quickly and marvellously was the face of
the little South African stock farms transformed
by this influx ! Open pasture land, where the
eye saw one day only a few scattered cattle
browsing on the thin grass and scratching their
sides against a stunted camelthorn, was covered
next day by swarms of roving prospectors, with shovels and
sieves, upturning grass roots and shaking dry earth through
their screens. White canvas camps, foaming with life, rose in a
Kimherley, before the Discovery of Diamonds.
night, with the seeming magic of Aladdin's palace, at the foot of
kopjes where, before, a burrowing meerkat was the only tenant.
Beyond the masses of tents ranged long straggling arches of
wagon tops and tethered troops of bullocks, horses, and mules.
190
THE GREAT WHITE CAMPS
191
Only a few months from the day when the first diamond was
picked up near du Toit's pan, the camp at Dorstfontein was
proudly claiming the title of the " City of the Pan." A spacious
market square was laid out on the ground between the pan
Dutoitspan. (From a very early Photograph.)
and the ridge covered with diamond diggers, and around this
square were ranged the white walls of the aspiring camp.
Streets radiating from the central square gave open access to the
market-place, and the white tent blocks were soon dotted near
the square with shops of brick and iron and wood, rivalling the
pioneer diamond-digging town of Klip-drift on the Vaal.1
Klip-drift struggled on with the best face possible, making
much of its position of vantage as the distributing market of all
camp supplies from the South African Republic ; but its day of
ascendancy soon flitted away never to return. In September,
1871, its chief standard-bearer, the Diamond News, moved to
the " City of the Pan," and there was no question from that time
of the preeminence of the " dry diggings," although a rival
paper, the Diamond Field, bore up for a time under the sinking
fortunes of Klip-drift. Before the end of the year 1871,
Dutoitspan boasted " many large hotels," " immense stores,"
1 " The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Charles Alfred Payton, London,
1872.
192 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
THE GREAT WHITE CAMPS 193
two churches, a hospital, and a theatre, and might have men-
tioned, besides, its less distinguished billiard room, "canteens,"
and dance halls.1 It was surely a wonderful birth of a smartly
growing infant city on the face of scrub-covered prairie in the
heart of South Africa.
The rise of the camps at De Beers and Kimberley was even
more rapid than the growth of the camp on Dorstfontein and
Bultfontein farms. There was no regular working in the De
Beers diggings before May, 1871, but the diggers could buy
Kimberley, 1873.
Christmas presents that year in rows of brick and iron stores
on the main roadsides, intermingled with " hotels " and saloons,
and a great white canvas town was spread out in a picturesque
medley of tents and marquees, straggling far over the veld, and
seeking the shelter of some stubbornly rooted mimosa or camel-
thorn.2 Kimberley's growth was still more surprising. Three
months after the rush began, the Colesberg Kopje was the centre
of an immense encampment in whose heart streets were irregularly
laid out, and neat stores built of iron and brick. In December,
1871, there were, by actual count, on the lower street of Kim-
1 "The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872. 2 Ibid.
i94 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
berley, six stores, four hotels, and several butcher and shoe-
maker shops, besides a billiard room and saloon. On the upper
Around Kimberlcy Mine, 1872.
or main street there were three hotels, several diamond merchants'
offices, a wholesale spirit and provision store, a bakery and con-
fectioner's shop, a drug dispensary, butchers' shops, eating houses,
bars, club and billiard rooms, and other miscellaneous shops and
resorts. On the edge of these white-walled cities, and on the
slopes of all the neighboring hills, were scattered the huts of wood
or dirty canvas or mud-plastered stones, where the native blacks
huddled together. When even this cover was lacking, some
slept in tents, or in burrows scraped in the hillsides. How many
diamond seekers were massed in these camps at the height of
the rush can hardly be reckoned with any approach to exactness.
There may have been fifty thousand whites and blacks on the
Fields, for the flow to Dutoitspan is said to have mounted as high
as forty thousand shortly after the opening of the Vooruitzigt
farm mines.
THE GREAT WHITE CAMPS 195
When, after long weeks of plodding over rugged mountain
ranges, parched karroos, and rolling prairie, a traveller suddenly
saw rising before him these white camps, springing up like pro-
digious mushrooms in an African desert, even the dullest brain
was strangely disturbed. It was hard to realize that these exotic
plants were the work of men's hands, for they seemed rather the
fantastic conceit of the trance of an opium eater. Here were
such cities as the mirage shapes from clouds or as Solomon
might have built with the help of his docile genii. When they
lay outstretched and gleaming under the burning sun in the
full splendor of noon, they were weird creations to amaze the
beholder ; but who can conceive their impress at night, under
the towering sky dome sprinkled with stars, with their masses of
Around Kimberley Mine, 1872.
twinkling and sparkling lights on the black face of the veld, like
the tail of a fallen comet.1
1 "The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872. " To the Cape
for Diamonds," Frederick Boyle, 1873. "South African Diamond Fields," Will-
iam Jacob Morton, 1877.
196 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Outside of these three main camps tents were thickly
sprinkled around the farmhouse of Bultfontein, in a field where
a thousand diggers were at work in the first week of the rush,
after the ground was opened in May, 1871. Immediately south
of this diamond-bearing farm was the farm Alexandersfontein,
where many prospectors were also turning and sifting the ground.
By the determination of the limits of Griqualand West these
diggings, as well as the chief camps, became part of the British
Colonial domain ; for the boundary line separating the new Col-
ony from the Orange Free State ran just outside of this cluster
of farms, Vooruitzigt, Dorstfontein, Bultfontein, and Alexan-
dersfontein,— through the outlying farm of Benaauwdheids-
fontein, where no diamond mine had, as yet, been discovered.1
So all the known diamond fields of South Africa, except the
lagersfontein farm within the bounds of the Orange Free State
•> D
and the shallow Vaal River placers, were bunched on a plateau
four thousand feet above the sea level, within the angle formed
by the junction of the Vaal with the Orange River, on a patch
with a radius of 1.72 miles at the crossing of longitude 24° 46'
east of Greenwich with latitude 28° 43' south of the equator.
The London and South African Exploration Company, by
its purchase of Dorstfontein, Bultfontein, and Alexandersfontein,
held a tight grip on the mineral rights comprehending the dia-
monds on all these farms, and leased the surface diggings under
licenses of IDS. for every claim 30 feet square. Messrs. Dunell,
Kbden & Co., of Port Elizabeth, held the farm of Vooruitzigt,
and exacted the same license fee for working claims which were
laid out in squares 30 by 30 Dutch feet, or 3 1 by 31 English
feet.2 Outside of the Colesberg Kopje or Kimberley mine all
the diggings were at first a jumble of holes, pits, and burrows,
with no attempt to secure any system or union in mining. But
the objections to this helter-skelter opening of the ground were
so apparent that a strict reservation of roadways to give access
to all parts of the surface of the mine was insisted upon by the
1 "Diamonds and Gold in South Africa," Theodore Reunert, 1893.
2 "The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872.
MMOND MINKS OF SOI ! H AFRICA
i-.f these three main camps tents were thickly
.•I'i-unJ tiie farmhouse ot Bulttuntein, in a held where
• iiggers uere at work in rhe first week ot the rush,
u around was opened in M:iv, iSyj. Immediately south
il'Hmoml-hv.irne farm was thr farm Alexandersfontein,
manv prospectors xscrealso turning and sifting the ground.
;-M;in.ir:(.n oi the limits of (jriqualand West these
, as \\e 1 a rhe chief camps, became part of the British
•it boundary line separating the new Col-
• ^tate ran just outside of this cluster
.'nmtein, Bultfontein, and Alexan-
nuiiying tarm of Benaauwdheids-
ine had, as vet, been discovered.1
h';-id> of South Africa, except the
"unds of the Orange Free State
.%:.uers, were bunched on a plateau
• • .; level, within the angle formed
KIMBERLEY MINE,. 1872^.
Showing Roadways and End View of Excav;at»°^|Titude 24° 46'
4;' south of the equator.
.\;-";}n (Exploration Company, by
O':» tontein, and Alexanderstontein,
. ;-;ii i-ght^ comprehending the dia-
;\i-;\{ rhe surface diggings under
square. Messrs. Dunell,
•\rm of Vooruitzigt,
4 claims which were
} i by 3 i Knglish
')u'-> Kimberley mine all
cs, pits, and burrows,
.•;mn in mining. But
'. V'L1 of the ground were
"rivhvays to give access
v^a^ insisted upon by the
A • (.' ? - •••<-.' l-.ip Rcunert, 189-5.
THE GREAT WHITE CAMPS
197
Orange Free State Inspector of Mines, in the laying out of
claims on the Colesberg Kopje. His authority was then so far
recognized that his direction controlled the survey and opening,
on July 21, 1871, of the diggings since famous as the Kimberley
Diamond Mine.
Roadways, 15 feet in width, running approximately north
and south, were carried across the longer axis of the diamond
bed, at a distance of 47 feet from one to the other. Each road
cut 7^ feet of surface ground from the side of the bordering
Kimberley Mine, 1872.
claims, so that the working surface of each allotted claim was
31 by 23-!- feet. Fourteen of these roadways crossed the mine,
whose ground surface permitted the laying out of about 430
claims of the allotted size, 3 1 feet square. A great many more
claims had been granted to license-holders before the survey,
for there had been no accurate measurement of the kopje, and
there was a consequent overlapping and conflict of locations and
spreading of claims beyond the limits of the diamond-bearing
ground. In the settlement of contests the claims were split up
by concessions, bargains, and sales, until there were not less than
1600 separate holdings of claims, and fractional parts running as
small as -j^-, or about 7 square yards. A lucky claim-holder
198 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
would sell off parts of his claim or the whole at high prices ; for
bidders were ready to pay large premiums beyond the license
fee of IQS. exacted from every working owner, whether his claim
was full size or a paring. The competition for a share in the
riches of the ground was only less keen at De Beers, and there
was a like subdivision of claims there, and not infrequently at
Dutoitspan and Bultfontein.1
It was obvious from the start, without any stretch of fore-
sight, that these minute subdivisions of claims and individual
working were only practicable in open cuttings whose depth
must depend on the character of the ground and the cooperation
of the miners. But at the outset of the mining in these Fields
no one could forecast the unknown continuance in depth of the
diamond deposits, and few supposed that the new beds differed
essentially from any before uncovered, and were vastly more im-
portant than the shallow gravel wash along the banks of the
Vaal. It was commonly expected that some barren stratum
would be reached not far from the surface, corresponding to the
" bed rock " of the river diggings, and that this must terminate
the hope of the diamond seekers.2 So the rush for the surface
claims was the keener, in view of the belief that a few months'
work at most would exhaust the precious deposit, and nobody
paused to consider what he would do if he was unable to sink
an open pit deeper.
Beneath the red surface soil at Dutoitspan a thin layer of
calcareous tufa 3 had been exposed, below which lay the dia-
mond-bearing breccia which the miners called " yellow ground "
from its prevailing color.4 At De Beers and Kimberley there
was comparatively little limestone beneath the red soil, for the
1 "The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872. 2 Ibid.
3 I look upon the calcareous tufa which covered the diamond mines as only
the altered yellow ground which had been metamorphosed by the evaporation of
water highly charged with carbonate of lime. The calcareous tufa which covered
the Premier mine was diamond bearing. This is the only one of the mines
whose surface ground has come under my personal observation. — The Author.
4 "The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872.
OF THE
UNIVERSITY
THE GREAT WHITE CAMPS 199
rich " yellow ground " rose nearly to the surface under a thin
coating of chalk. It appeared in exploring the yellow ground in
most of the openings that the deposit was enclosed in an oval-
shaped funnel of shale, or decomposed basalt resting on shale,
which the miners called " reef." This reef contained no dia-
monds and marked the limits of any profitable prospecting.
The surface area of the yellow ground within one of these fun-
nels ranged from about ten acres at Kimberley to twenty-three
acres at Dutoitspan, and on these patches all the diamond-bearing
claims of the Fields were located.1
When the bottom of the " yellow ground " was reached at a
depth of from fifty to sixty feet below the surface, it was sup-
posed at first that diamond digging in the funnels had come to
an end ; but the hard underlying rock was cut by experi-
menters, and it was found, to the delight of the miners, that
this also was diamond bearing. It was a breccia composite,
essentially like the " yellow ground " above, but much more
compact and hard, and of a prevailing bluish slate color, so
that it was familiarly known as " blue ground." Exposure to
the air, sun, and rain decomposed it so rapidly that most of the
rock could be readily pulverized after a few weeks, and its
precious contents extracted by sifting. The whole mass of the
ground in the funnels was diamond-bearing, in greater or less
extent, except in occasional streaks and masses of barren shale,
floating reef, floating shale, or non-diamond-bearing volcanic
mud, and volcanic rocks. So the pit sinking was widened to
the extreme limits of the claims, and the entire area of yellow
and blue ground excavated in open quarries.
The work was pushed with feverish energy and remarkable
rapidity in view of the bare hand labor and crude mining appli-
ances, but there was no uniformity of method or extended
cooperation. Every claim-holder cut down his patch with pick
and shovel, and lifted the broken ground in a way that suited
his individual notion. Some set stout windlasses in the surface
ground near the edge of their claims, and hoisted buckets filled
1 "The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872. 2 Ibid,
200 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
THE GREAT WHITE CAMPS 201
on the working levels. Others carried up buckets and tubs
and rawhide sacks to the surface, climbing ladders resting on
successive terraces, or mounting flights of steps cut in the rock,
or trundling wheelbarrows up plank inclines. Around the edge
of the mines there was a mustering of carts, and barrows, and
carriers, to bear off the quarried ground to depositing places,
where it was dried, pounded, and sifted.1
The open quarries, swarming with workers, buzzed like pro-
digious beehives. The upsetting of the tower of Babel would
scarcely have poured out such a medley of tongues and sounds.
From the vast amphitheatres scooped in the rock there rose in
the air the clicking of picks, the rasp and clatter of shovels, the
cracking of rock, the rattle of gravel, the thud of bucket-filling,
the creaking of windlasses, the tramp over planks, the thump of
wheelbarrows, the rolling of carts, the lowing of bullocks and
braying of mules, mingled with calls and chatter and chants
of whites and blacks in an indescribable din. Diggers in rough
working dress, and natives almost stark naked, bent and heaved,
and scrambled and climbed, side by side, reeking with sweat
and grime, in an ever shifting, restless swarm that covered the
face of the quarry like flies in some monstrous sugar bowl. The
flocking in of the native African tribes — joined with the white
diamond seekers in opening the strange funnels of crystal-
sprinkled breccia — made a compound of color, feature, and
character never before assembled in any mines on the face of
the earth.2 The sinewy negroes proved themselves such willing
and sturdy workers in the dust and heat of the sun-scorched
quarries, that the claim-holders were glad to hire them and
confine their own work to the task of overseers, directing the
digging and hauling, and the sifting and sorting. No blaze of
the sun and no whirl of the dust could subdue their bubbling
spirits, breaking out in wild whoops and chants, and yelling in
pack when any big diamond was found, revelling in every
chance diversion, — the fall of a bucket, the slip of a ladder, the
1 "The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872. "South Afri-
can Diamond Fields," Morton, 1877. 2 Ibid.
202 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
THE
R
OF
'
THE GREAT WHITE CAMPS
203
tumble of a climber, and convulsed with laughter whenever they
could set mules capering, or bullocks shying or balking by shrill
whistles and screams, and mimicry of a driver's call: "Yek!"
and " Trek ! " " Ah now ! " and " Whoa ! " and so through the
range of cries, Dutch, English, and African.1
Almost all the natives were barefooted, and most were bare-
headed, barebacked, and barelegged, except in the coldest weather.
Some had ragged trousers, and others ragged shirts, but few put
both on together. A greasy, gaudy handkerchief twisted around
Kimberley Mine, 1872.
a black head, and party-colored bunches of rags, or moochies
made of the tails or skins of wild animals, dangling from a waist-
belt of rawhide, were a camp parade dress too precious to use
in the quarries. Mingled with these wild Africans, the white
miners worked soberly and arduously, bearing the pains of
diamond digging stoically, in the hope of its rewards. Their
working clothes were commonly plain suits of brown corduroy
or other coarse cloth adapted to the season, and when the sun
shone they wore generally broad-brimmed straw hats, or pith
helmets, with light muslin "puggarees."
It was long before there was any notable advance in the pro-
1 "The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872. 2 Ibid.
204 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
cess of separation of the diamonds from the ground, beyond the
cradle for dry sifting, constructed to take the place of the com-
mon hand-sieve at Dutoitspan. Level spots were sought on
the veld near the mines, or patches of ground were levelled
sufficiently to serve as dumping places, where the broken dia-
mond-bearing breccia was piled and spread out. The "blue
ground " exposed to the air crumbled away by degrees, but the
miners were rarely patient enough to wait for this disintegration,
preferring quick returns by pulverizing the ground with their
shovels and mallets. This was hard work and costly, from the
loss in imperfect pulverization. But the diamond seekers were
Roads in Kimberley Mine, 1871-1872.
poor men who could scarcely afford to hold any stock of blue
ground for the sake of increased returns, even if they had been
able to guard their depositing floors from theft. After pound-
ing the broken rock it was sifted in the midst of dust clouds by
rockers swung on riems of rawhide, and the concentrate was
then scraped over and sorted.1 In July, 1871, a large cylindri-
cal revolving sieve, driven by a small steam engine, was put at
work by some American miners, and this sifting machine was
said to be an efficient and rapid separator. The pulverized
ground was thrown into the upper end of the screen, which was
1 "South African Diamond Fields," Morton, 1877. "Diamonds and Gold
in South Africa," Reunert, 1893.
THE GREAT WHITE CAMPS
205
rapidly revolved, and the concentrate passed out through the
lower end, falling upon a sorting table. The cylinder, covered
with fine wire mesh, sifted out the dust thoroughly, and its opera-
tion was so rapid that thirty cartloads of diamond-bearing ground
were screened daily. Its owners claimed to be able to sift all
the ground in a claim thirty feet square to a uniform depth of
thirty feet in three weeks. The machine attracted a curious
crowd at first, when the steam whistle blew off and the cylinder
began to throw off thick clouds of dust, but for some reason its
o •
Kimberley Mine. (Showing
racks appear in the foreground.)
use was not long continued. Probably the fine mesh was too
light to bear the strain and friction of the revolving rock
fragments.1
The amount of ground which any one man could work, was,
of course, very small, but there were so many workers on the
Fields that the aggregate extent of ground sifted was enormous,
and the breccia in spots was so thickly sprinkled with crystals
that many miners won rich rewards. When Payton was leav-
ing the field in November, 1871, it was estimated that from
forty to fifty thousand pounds' worth of diamonds were taken
1 " The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872.
206 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
weekly from the Colesberg Kopje alone, and he states that the
best claims had risen in value from ^100 or less to ^4000. l
It was clearly shown, too, that even the highest price paid
for a claim might be cheap, for one poor Dutchman, " Smuts,"
who bought half a claim for ^50, is said to have found dia-
monds in two months' working to the value of ^£1 5,000 or
more. Another digger found, in a few months, no less than
730 stones in his claim, one of which weighed 156 carats."
Such great good fortune was rare in the other mines, and many
miners won little or nothing from months of hard work in their
claims, but in the Colesberg Kopje, or Kimberley mine, the
prizes were so common and exciting that every foot of ground
was covered by diamond seekers. When the rubbing of shoul-
ders was too close for comfort, one or more of the partners in
a claim would be pressed to sell out and start again prospect-
ing. Sometimes a share in a claim, worth many hundreds of
pounds, would be risked on the toss of a penny.8
In the heat of the search and extraction many fine diamonds
were fractured, and many of the smaller stones ran through the
sieves into the tailings, as was afterward demonstrated when
the waste heaps were reworked with better appliances.4 The
Kimberley mine produced some stones of large size, running
sometimes over one hundred carats, but the mass of crystals ran
under five carats. A yellowish tinge was more marked in the
diamonds of the uplands than in the river stones, and many
otherwise superb crystals were so decidedly " off color " that
their value was greatly impaired.
It was early noticed that the diamonds of one mine often
differed materially from those of another, and even in the same
mine diamonds of one section were unlike the yield of another.
Thus, in the west end of the Kimberley mine the diamond crys-
tals were exceptionally perfect octahedrons, or exceptionally white
" glassy stones," as the miners called them ; while elsewhere in
the mine the crystals had,more commonly, rounded and bevelled
1 " The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872. 2 Ibid. 8 Ibid.
4 "Diamonds and Gold in South Africa," Reunert, 1893.
THE GREAT WHITE CAMPS
207
2o8 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
edges, and, more or less, a yellowish tinge, and there was a large
proportion of split, flawed, and spotted stones, and boart. The
De Beers mine crystals resembled the Kimberley stones, but
their quality ran a little below the Kimberley mine. Dutoitspan
produced comparatively few stones, but the average weight was
notably large, and the crystals were of fine color. Bultfontein
stones differed greatly from those of the other mines. Here
the diamonds were chiefly small, rounded octahedrons, many of
them so pocked and spotted that the crystals had a cloudy
appearance.1 These crystals were greatly inferior to the " glassy
stones " of Kimberley or the large diamonds of Dutoitspan ;
but the Bultfontein surface ground yield was so uniform at
first, that many diggers held and worked claims for the sake of
sure, if small, returns to defray their expenses, while they counted
on their Dutoitspan claims for the occasional large stones that
richly rewarded a lucky digger.
All the crystals in the blue ground were encased in a smooth
bed of the same material which did not adhere to the diamonds,
so that their lustre, when extracted, was quite bright or glassy.
Amid the mass of white and light yellowish stones in all the
mines were scattered some of varied color. Brown was the
most common of these ; next came the deeper yellow shades,
and pale blue stones were sometimes uncovered, as well as the
black diamond (boart) used for setting drill-crowns. Pink,
mauve, and green diamonds were occasionally found, but were
less common than in the river diggings.
As already mentioned, it has been estimated that the rush
which built up these mining camps and covered the surround-
ing farms with prospectors brought fifty thousand men to the
new Diamond Fields in the first year, though the shifting popu-
lation of the Fields did not rise as high as that at any one time.2
The influx of native Africans was not so large at first, but
increased from year to year. Morton says that there was a flow
of thirty thousand natives annually to the field for seven years
l" South African Diamond Fields," Morton, 1877.
2 "The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872.
THE GREAT WHITE CAMPS 209
after the discovery of the mines.1 This is a credible estimate, at
least, in view of the constant drifting away from the field of the
native workers, after a few months' stay, when they had earned
sufficient money to buy their coveted guns and ammunition, and
wives, cattle, blankets, etc.
The bulk of the general merchandise was hauled slowly from
the coast ports in ox-wagons. Algoa Bay (Port Elizabeth) was
the chief port of supply at first, and the transport to the Dia-
mond Fields was a trip ranging from thirty days, at least, to six
months.2 Certain kinds of food — beef, mutton, poultry, game,
dried venison, commonly called "biltong,"3 and maize meal
(mealie meal) — were furnished quite cheaply and plentifully from
the neighboring Free State and the South African Republic,
through the Klip-drift distributing market. Tobacco, butter,
eggs, and honey were less freely supplied from the country, and
commanded a ready sale. Ordinary beef and mutton sold for
4<^. a pound in 1871, with an additional charge for choice steaks.
A whole sheep could be bought at wholesale for 4^. Game,
chiefly springbok, blesbok, and wildebeest, was as cheap as
mutton. Chickens and ducks ranged from 2s. 6d. to 3^. 6d.
apiece. The price of eggs ran high, ranging from 2s. 6d. to 4-$-.
a dozen, and butter was sold at from is. 6d. to 5^. per pound.
For " Boer meal," a coarse wheat flour, the charge was from
35.$-. to 50^. per muid, about 183 pounds ; white flour brought 6d.
a pound; rice 9^.; sugar and tobacco 9^. to is. ; oranges and
onions were sold at los. per hundred, and dried fruits at from
%d. to gd. per pound.4
The most urgent calls were for fresh vegetables, and the
supply was so meagre that the prices shot up to exorbitant fig-
ures. From 5^-. to js. was freely given for a bucketful of
potatoes, and the wholesale price for a bag of a hundredweight
1 "South African Diamond Fields," Morton, 1877.
2 " The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872.
3 Biltong is made of meat of any of the antelope species, but that made from
the springbok is considered the best.
4 "The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872.
210 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
was from ^2 to £1 IQJ. Half a crown (sixty cents) was often
paid for a small cabbage or a handful of onions. Choice forage
for the horses and mules was almost as costly as vegetables. A
bundle of five pounds of unthreshed oat hay was sold for as high
as is. Dry cut fuel was as high-priced as forage. Bundles of
light sticks sold from gd. to is. per bundle, and £3 was charged
for a load of good firewood. There was a considerable forest
growth on the hills near the Vaal River, and many thickets
on the ridges nearer the camps, but the cost of cutting and haul-
ing was so great that many diggers contrived to make their fires
of dried bullocks' dung (buffalo chips as they were called by the
emigrants crossing the American plains), as they had learned to
do when crossing the karroo.1
Market auctions were the common and popular mode of
selling food and ordinary miners' supplies. Criers swinging bells
rang up the drowsy camps for the early morning market, where
meat, eggs, butter, fruit, and vegetables were offered from wagons
and stalls in the open market squares. These sales and gather-
ings of bidders and lookers-on formed one of the liveliest camp
scenes, especially on Saturday, when thousands of whites and
blacks flocked to the auctions, surrounding the stands with dense
masses of jovial bargainers. How strange and curious to a
newcomer's eye was the market show, — carcasses of big brown
shaggy wildebeests hanging up in line with sides of beef, ante-
lopes with slender legs stretched out stiffly among the slaughtered
sheep and lambs, strips of biltong and freshly killed kids,
little long-legged hares, party-colored bustards, red-wing par-
tridges, red-legged plovers, guinea fowl, ducks, geese, and other
wild fowl, mingled with the poultry from country farmyards !
Here were lines of huge tent-covered wagons filled with hides,
and wool, and meal, and wood, driven to market by the stolid
Boers or Hottentot servants grinning from ear to ear. Potatoes,
and beets, and carrots, and onions, and cabbages were piled in
heaps, tempting the last shilling of scurvy-haunted men. The
gobbling of turkeys, the crowing of cocks, the quacking of
1 "The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872.
THE GREAT WHITE CAMPS 211
ducks, swelled the chorus of chatter and laughing and singing
and badinage, that smothered, at times, the brisk calls of the
auctioneers and the offers of the diggers and the hotel and shop
keepers.1
In the afternoons special sales of tents, miners' tools, guns,
and general merchandise were frequently made by auction, and
large stocks were sometimes sold off completely in this way.
Often in the flurry of competition these goods brought absurdly
high prices, when the market was overstocked with like articles
Market Square, Kimberley.
in the stores. It was observed as a curious fact that scarcely a
bid could be got for revolvers, which many adventurers had sup-
posed to be an indispensable part of their outfit. There were
very few outbreaks of ruffianism in the camps, where the great
body of miners was disposed to be orderly, and occasional sprees
were the chief disturbances. The swaggering bullies, and cheat-
DO O '
ing gamblers, and lurking garroters, who infested the seething
camps of Nevada and Colorado, rarely drifted as far as these
isolated Diamond Fields, and the few who came in were held in
check.
1 "The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872.
212 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
THE GREAT WHITE CAMPS 213
The crying need of the camps was good water. The Du-
toitspan basin did not always hold out through the dry season,
and besides, this pan was filled by drainage and was not whole-
some ; but two rude dams were built that served to store up
drainage water longer than the natural reservoirs. To eke out
the supply the " Diggers' Committee " at Dutoitspan and Bult-
fontein sunk several wells which furnished some additional water,
and a digger was licensed to draw two bucketfuls daily upon the
payment of one shilling a month for his water rights. This
privilege was so keenly sought for that there was always a little
crowd of men with buckets, waiting their turn, at the mouth of
a well in the daytime. The water was muddy, but it was never-
theless eagerly drunk, and the stinted supply was too precious
for washing. Following this push of the committee, prospecting
water shafts were sunk by private enterprise, and when water was
reached, the well was opened to a limited number of subscribers
upon payment of a monthly fee of four shillings.1
At Kimberley, water, for months, was so dear that it was sold
for threepence a bucket, and a daily washing of face and hands
was a stretch of luxury. A stinted bath at Dutoitspan cost two
shillings and sixpence, and bathing at the other camps was
rarely attempted. When the coating of grime grew unbearable,
the best resource was a ride or tramp to the Vaal and a plunge
in the river. In the dry season, when the air was full of float-
ing dust from the claims and cradles, and when hot winds from
the veld blew in clouds of red sand, the dearth of water was
bitterly felt, and no joker was safe who ventured to recall the
" old oaken bucket " and other vain visions of cool, bubbling
springs.
Often the dust-storms passed beyond the aggravation of
thirst and discomfort, driving sand-whirls so furiously in the
faces of the workers that the hardiest men were forced to drop
their picks and shovels, and buckets and cradles, and run to
cover. Then, for hours, storms would rack the tents, straining
every cord and stitch of canvas to the snapping point, and often
1 "The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872.
2i4 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
tearing rents in the walls, or pitching over tent-poles and all in
utter wreck. Even when the stout posts, braced and guyed
against a hurricane, bore the strain unyielding, the sheltered
miners had to swelter in a mist of dust that was blown through
the crevices into every fold of bedding and clothing, and coated
every inch of their skins with irritating powder.
Next to this pest of dust was the plague of flies, little and
large, black and green, that swarmed over the camps in countless
myriads in the summer season, tainting every morsel of food, and
settling on every bare face or body with a dash so bold and per-
sistent, and a grip so malignant, that it hurt like a sting. No
possible device could clear the tents completely, or keep out
these swarms ; but the miners armed themselves with big whisks
of wildebeest and ox tails, and got some relief by constantly flick-
ing and slashing, or when they were forced to use both hands
at work on the cradles or sorting tables, " fly flappers " stood by
to brush back attacks.
Hot days in the dry diggings on the bare veld were more
keenly felt than the same days on the tree-fringed Vaal, and
some midsummer days were too scorching even for the endurance
of the seasoned black diggers. But, except at midday, few work-
ing hours were lost when the sun was shining. The swooping
thunder-storms were scarcely less terrific than the storms in the
river valley, striking the camps with drenching pelts of rain and
heavy hail, hurled from cloud banks blazing and bellowing with
monstrous forks of lightning and stunning thunder peals.
The clear winter days were greatly invigorating. At break
of day it was often so cold that jugs of water were skimmed
with ice and a hoar frost covered the ground. But when the
bright sun mounted the sky, the chill air was so warmed in a
few hours, and so pure on the breezy veld, that the miners
gained fresh spirit with every breath, and went through their
monotonous round of work with unflagging life and good humor.
The actual record of a week at the mines, in August, 1871, gives
a clear idea of the winter shifts of temperature.1
1 "The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872.
THE GREAT WHITE CAMPS 215
DAY. NIGHT.
Highest Temperature. Lowest Temperature.
Aug. 21 83° Fah 40° Fah.
" 22 85° " 35° "
" 23 83° •• 30° "
" 24 92° " ...... 33° "
<< 25 93° '• 28° "
<< 26 56° « 28° "
The health of the camps was usually good, except in mid-
summer, when " low " fever, diarrhoea, dysentery, and colic were
prevalent. The impure drinking water was the most persistent
cause of sickness and the most difficult to combat. Inflamma-
tion of the lungs from the fretting dust, and mild scurvy, were
the other common ailments, occasioned by the conditions of life
at the diggings.1
It was not all work and no play in these diamond diggings.
Saturday afternoon was commonly taken as a half holiday in
addition to the Sunday rest and recreation. In the springtime,
or the beginning of the rainy season, fresh flowers sprang into
bloom on the face of the veld, and birds built their nests in the
grass and thickets. Little dusky black-and-white birds, recall-
ing the English linnet, were sweetly trilling songsters, and were
so fearless and sociable that they flew everywhere over the dig-
gings, in the midst of the dust and stir, perching on heaps of
broken rock, or even on the diggers' cradles, comically fluttering
their tails, and chirping so musically that the wearied men were
charmed to watch and listen. There was good shooting, too, for
wild fowl and small game on the open veld ; and not far from
Dutoitspan there was a large stretch of thickets and scrub where
korhaans and paauws and partridges and plovers and hares
abounded. The stately Kafir cranes shook their bluish gray
plumes on the brink of the vleis, or water holes, where they
came to drink, and were shot by the hunters who lay in wait.
Their flesh was not unpalatable as a change from biltong, but
1<rThe Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Pay ton, 1872. "To the
Cape for Diamonds," Frederick Boyle, 1873.
2i6 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
the hunters who pushed toward the Vaal brought back better
eating than cranes in their bags, — wild ducks and geese and
guinea fowl, and even a nimble springbok or queer-headed wilde-
beest or hartebeest. The swift leopard, too, was occasionally
shot near the river bank, and the rambling diggers found some
fun in unearthing porcupines, or chasing a jackal with dogs, or
lying in wait for the shy head of a meerkat to pop out of a
hole. A string offish, that could readily be caught in the river,
made a welcome meal ; and a run to the Vaal, with a few days'
camping under the willows and long swims in the swirling
current, was a gay streak of diversion from dusty diamond
digging.1
Within the camping grounds there were always, in the day-
time and evening, stirring scenes to attract the eye, — antics of
ponies and mules ; the passage of straining bullock teams with
carts piled high with diamond-bearing ground, or wagons loaded
with country produce; the rambling of pedlers with packs
and trays; the groups of native tribesmen in trappings of skins
and feathers or comical old clothing, chattering or singing or
whooping or dancing ; the clustering of black women, washing
on the edge of the water pools ; the rallies of amateur minstrels
and travelling shows ; the merry-go-round, ridden by laughing
children or solemn country clowns ; the rattling of pins in the
bowling alleys and clicking of balls on pool tables, the crowded
" canteens," and all the other lively sights and sounds of the
fermenting camps.
Fortune-tellers and wizards, who professed to be able to see
through the earth, did not need to dig diamonds. Credulous
prospectors filled their laps with silver and gold. Payton tells
of one whose tent in Dutoitspan was thronged, day and night,
with eager dupes, showering shillings upon her, and her income
was reckoned at £30 a day. Many of the Boers had unshak-
able faith in her. When she told a poor Dutchman that there
was nothing in his claim, he could not be persuaded to dig any
longer. If she promised diamonds and none were found, she
1 " The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872.
THE GREAT WHITE CAMPS
217
had an easy defence : " The niggers must have stolen them."
Then the wrathful claim-holder would pounce on his Kafirs and
haul them to the " tronk," the police station of the camp, where
the blacks were searched to the tips of their toes. Sometimes the
wizard guessed right, for diamond stealing was common, and
precious stones would be brought to light with joy to the owner
and credit to the fortune-teller.1
The whipping-post was soon set up in the new camps and
freely used to chastise theft and other offences. The whipping
Natives resting, on their Way to the Mines.
was not very severe, and it was remarked that the " cat " was not
as heavy as the one at Klip-drift. Many of the natives would
steal anything that they could carry off, and put on a brazen
face that would impose on a police court judge. A story is told
of two Hottentots who took the sheepskins off a man's bed and
tried to sell them back to their owner as soon as his eyes were
open in the morning. They took fifteen lashes on their bare
backs without a whimper. Small fines were imposed for slighter
breaches of the camp regulations, and roaring drunkards were
occasionally clapped into the "tronk," a weak little jail, but the
1 "The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872.
218 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
whipping-post was necessarily the main dependence for punish-
ment of natives.
Strangest and most interesting of all features of the camps to
a newcomer were the habits and antics of the marvellous collec-
tion of savages, streaming into the Fields from the heart of
Africa. No mining camp on earth before ever held such a mot-
ley swarm of every dusky shade, in antelope skins and leopard
skins and jackal skins and bare skins, — with girdles and armlets
of white ox-tails, and black crane plumes and gorgeous bird
feathers, and dirty loin cloths, and ragged breeches, and battered
hats and tattered coats. With and without the fire of rum they
might dash off at any moment into some wildly whirling reel
or savage dance, gabbling in a hundred dialects, whooping with
weird cries, and chanting plaintive, gay, and passionate strains,
now dissonant, now sweet. Whenever a new party of " raw "
natives came in from the wilderness, weary, grimy, hungry, shy,
trailing along sometimes with bleeding feet and hanging heads,
and bodies staggering with faintness, a howl of jeers was a com-
mon greeting, and a pelting with rotten fruits and stones was
likely to follow the scared troop up the street of the camp,
though the natives were not churlish at heart, and might, after-
ward, share their last crust with the strangers.
Their savage habits clung to them long in camp. Some
delighted to smoke in the old native way, by making a little
funnel in the wet ground with a slender stick and sucking the
smoke through one end while the tobacco leaves burned in a
hollow at the other. As a rule all the natives from Delagoa
Bay and districts to the north of that part smoked cigars with
the fire end in their mouths. When sheep or bullocks were
killed at market, the natives hung about and returned exulting
if the obliging butchers gave them the entrails to hang in fes-
toons about their necks and carry off smeared with filth. They
fed content day after day on a few handfuls of mealies or ground
maize with an occasional chunk of refuse meat. They had
little use for water except to drink, and they much preferred
Cape brandy. After working all day, and roving about and
THE GREAT WHITE CAMPS
219
singing at night, they could sleep as soon as their heads touched
the ground, on the bare earth, without shelter, or in a squalid
hut with a dirty sheepskin wrapped around them. These quaint
Africans, mingling in a kaleidoscopic show with adventurers
coming from the ends of the earth, made a unique, moving
drama on the stage of the Diamond Fields that cannot be
forgotten by any spectator.
PHOTOGRAPH OF HERBERT RHODES MENTIONED ON PAGE 273.
CHAPTER VIII
OPENING THE CRATERS
N ever present danger hung over the miners
from the very outset of their pit digging in the
diamond-bearing funnels. The yellow ground
was a breccia so loose and friable that it was
constantly caving in upon the heads of the
diggers. Then the pits were sunk so close
together that the walls gave way and slipped, crumbling into the
claims below. A loaded cart, passing along the edge of a road,
would often topple over and sometimes plunge with driver and
mule into the pit below.
Prospecting on the Alexandersfontein farm was not long con-
tinued ; but the diggings at Dutoitspan, Bultfontein, De Beers,
and Kimberley were ardently opened by swarms of diamond
seekers. The surface area covered by claims was very much
larger than the diamond-yielding ground, whose total extent
was, approximately, seventy acres. When the claims were con-
solidated by purchase, many years later, the Kimberley open
mine surface was figured to be 33 acres; De Beers, 22 acres;
Dutoitspan, 45 acres; and Bultfontein, 36 acres. These meas-
urements more than cover the extent of the original locations,
O '
which were as follows : Kimberley, 470 claims, equal to 10.37
acres; De Beers, 622 claims, equal to 13.72 acres; Dutoitspan,
1441 claims, equal to 31.79 acres; and Bultfontein 1067 claims,
equal to 23.54 acres. Only a few scattered diamonds were
found outside of the rim of "reef" enclosing the diamond-
bearing: craters.
D
To present clearly the progress of mining in the several
funnels, it is desirable to trace the advance of each separately
OPENING THE CRATERS
221
through the period of the open mine working, to show the dif-
ferent methods employed, and how one mine profited by the
costly experience of another. The superior richness of the
diamond-bearing ground in Kimberley mine urged forward its
opening more rapidly than the development of the others,
and this may properly be outlined first. The plan of min-
ing, with the reservation of roadways determined by the Free
State inspectors, proved a poor makeshift at best, before the
sinking of claims had progressed many feet below the sur-
The Breaking-up of the Roads, Kimberley Mine, 1872.
face. The bordering-claim owners undercut the roadways cross-
ing the mine, in working to the bounds of their allotments,
and these reserved roads soon began to cave away in places to
an extent that made the passage of carts very risky. It was
doubtless convenient to have ready access to every part of the
surface of the mine, and it was a moving spectacle when four-
teen parallel roadways were covered with files of plunging mules
and rumbling carts, goaded by the cries and whips of many hun-
dreds of half-naked Kafirs or white drivers ; but it was a piti-
ful burlesque of mining when the roadways cracked and crumbled,
and crevasses were bridged with sliding planks, and mule carts
222 THE DIAiMOND MINES OF- SOUTH AFRICA
Miners going to Work.
and men staggered and slipped over the roadsides into abysses.
Yet in spite of all risks and accidents, the roads were patched
up and maintained in some shape long after it was evident that
they were doomed. At length no possible patching and bridg-
OPENING THE CRATERS
223
The Hand Drums used for Winding-up the Blue Ground.
ing could arrest their fall. One after another, before the end
of the year 1 872, had crumbled away and slipped into the great pit.
The mine was then an open, oval quarry, about a thousand
De Beers Mine, 1874.
feet in length and six hundred feet in extreme width. The
broken blue ground on the face of the rough jumble of terraces
224 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
had been hoisted to the surface usually in buckets, by means of
a rope passing around a windlass and through a pulley fixed
in a pole set near the edge of the claim, but in 1872 a simple
device of haulage over two grooved wheels was largely intro-
duced. One wheel was set on the pit bottom, and the other on
the surface, with a handle attached by means of which one or
more stout natives could wind up a rope passing from wheel
to wheel, carrying up a loaded bucket and lowering an empty
Kimberley Mine, 1873.
one. This crude device served the purpose as long as a wheel
could be set near the edge of a claim on unbroken ground, or
along the roadway ; but when all the claims were at the bottom
of one huge open pit, it was obvious that only the outer tier of
claims could be worked by this method.
Then a haulage system of really remarkable ingenuity was
contrived. A massive timber staging was set completely around
the mouth of the mine, carrying two, and in parts three, plat-
forms, one above the other. The upper platform was connected
by strongly anchored ropes with the claims in the middle of the
mine, and the lower platform in the same way, with the claims
OPENING THE CRATERS
225
Kimberley Mine, 1874.
nearer the margin of the mines. Where there was a third inter-
vening platform, ropes were stretched to claims lying between
the outer and inner circle. Windlasses were set on the plat-
Another View of Kimberley Mine, 1875.
*•**. £>-•
OF THE
UNIVERSITY
226 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Natives carrying Ground out of Dutoitspan Mine in Buckets. Mine flooded, May, 1874.
forms, together with guide wheels over which hauling ropes
passed, dragging the buckets swiftly from the bottom of the
mine on little overhead runners, rattling over the stationary
roped inclines. When the loaded buckets reached the platform
levels they were dumped into chutes carrying the contents into
bags, which were readily carted away to level depositing grounds,
or "floors," as they were technically termed, where the blue
ground was sifted and sorted. The empty buckets were easily
Back View of the Staging with Grooved Wheels, at Kimberley, 1874.
OPENING THE CRATERS
227
returned, running back by force of gravity over the ropes to
the claims. The buckets were of rawhide, for this material
was found to be more lasting than iron, and the ropes were at
first largely of hemp or twisted rawhide ; but iron and steel
wire gradually replaced all other material.
So thickly together were these lines set, that the whole face
of the vast pit seemed to be covered by a monstrous cobweb,
shining in the moonlight as if every filament was a silver strand.
Never has any eye seen such a marvellous show of mining as
Kimberley Mine, 1875.
was given in this grand amphitheatre, when the huge pit was sunk
far below the surface level ; when the encircling wreath of the
chasm rose sheer and black like the walls of a deep, gloomy
canyon, or the swelling round of a demon's caldron ; when a
downward glance from the perch of a platform made weak heads
reel ; when thousands of half-naked men, dwarfed to pygmy
size, were scratching the face of the pit with their puny picks
like burrowing gnomes ; when thousands more, all grimy and
sweating and odorous, were swarming around the pit's mouth,
dragging up loads of diamond-sprinkled ground and carrying
off their precious sacks ; when hide buckets were flying like
228 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Snow in Kimberley Mine, June 21, 1876.
shuttles in a loom up and down the vast warp of wires, twanging
like dissonant harp-strings, with a deafening din of rattling
wheels and falling ground ; and where every beholder was won-
der-struck at the thought that this weird creation in the heart of
Method of Hauling, De Beers Mine, 1873.
OPENING THE CRATERS
229
South Africa had been evolved by men for the sake of a few
buckets of tiny white crystals to adorn the heads and hands of
fanciful women.1
The First Horse Whim, Kimberley Mine, 1874.
With the deepening of the mine, " horse whims," first intro-
duced in 1874, were gradually substituted for hand tackle in
hoisting and lowering the buckets, which were enlarged tubs
Hauling Gear and Jumpers, Kimberley Mine, 1878.
1 When Lord Randolph Churchill visited the diamond fields, while looking at a
huge parcel of diamonds he remarked, " All for the vanity of woman." A lady,
who heard the remark, added, " and the depravity of man."
230 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
A Nook in Kin
.-, 1874.
holding five or six cubic feet of blue ground. These whims
were timber wheels from fourteen to eighteen feet in diameter,
set near the edge of the mine, to revolve horizontally about
A SECTION OF DE BEERS MINE, 1874, SHOWING SHALE AS THE WALL ROCK.
OPENING THE CRATERS
231
eight feet above the surface level. To turn the whim an iron
D
hoop, projecting from the wheel, was attached to the harness of
a horse or mule. The hauling rope was wound above the hol-
lowed rim of the wheel, and each end of the rope was fastened
to a tub, one hauling up the load of blue ground, and the other
lowering the empty tub.
In the following year, 1875, the first steam winding engine
employed at the mines was transported to Kimberley to take
the place of horse power in moving the whim, and the first
The Horse Whims, Kimberley Mine, 1875.
application of modern mining methods to the South African Dia-
mond Fields was made. This seemingly tardy development was
due less to a lack of enterprise than to the heavy charges of
freight transportation from the coast, ranging for years over
£30 per ton, and to the scarcity and cost of fuel, combined with
the lack of any positive assurance of the continuance in depth
of the diamond-bearing ground. Such a deposit of diamonds
as had been uncovered in the South African farm lands had
never been opened before, and the erection of costly machinery
for its extraction was naturally deemed an unwarranted risk.
232 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Hauling Gear, Dutoitspan Mine, 1876.
But as the cutting passed farther and farther down through
the reef-circled funnels without disclosing any barren stratum or
break in the body of breccia, the surmise rose gradually to the
point of conviction that the funnels were craters of extinct vol-
canoes, filled by successive eruptions of steam or gas under great
pressure with a diamantiferous breccia, carrying fragments of vol-
canic and sedimentary rocks and crystals of many kinds of min-
erals. This conclusion, however, was hardly more than one of
several varying assumptions in advance of the thorough re-
searches and analyses of later years, when the prosecution of
deep mining works determined positively the existence of craters,
the character of the breccia, and the composition of its encasing
reef. So the progress of mining on the Diamond Fields was
long a hesitating and tentative advance, groping step by step
into the depths of the blue ground.
After the device of staging and hoisting ropes had solved,
for a time, the problem of open excavation in the Kimberley
mine crater, and the caving of the blue ground was no longer
a terror to the diggers, the collection of water in the pits was a
serious annoyance. Most of this water was surface drainage,
OPENING THE CRATERS
233
Surface Loading Boxes.
Aerial Trams and Surface Chutes, De Beers Mine, 1885.
234 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
flooding the lower levels in the rainy season, but never sufficient
in quantity to have been any considerable obstacle, if the mine
had been equipped with the ordinary pumping machinery erected
in other mining districts. The lack of any such machinery,
compelling for years the bailing and hoisting of the water in
buckets or tubs by hand or horse power, was no slight draw-
back to the progress of sinking. Hard upon this impediment
came the much graver trouble occasioned by the crumbling,
cracking, sliding, and falling of the encasing reef of decom-
posed basalt and shale. The unstable walls of these soft rocks
caved rapidly upon exposure to air and moisture into the open
pit, and the fracturing and slipping were aggravated by the
imprudent vertical cutting of the mine, removing the entire
body of blue ground without cutting away the reef in compara-
tively stable terraces or slopes. Obviously no single claim-holder
would undertake the cost of removing the dangerous reef for
the common benefit, and it was difficult to secure the general
cooperation and subscriptions so urgently required for this work.
What is everybody's business in theory has too often been
nobody's business in practice. The mean and short-sighted
Hauling Gear, Kimberley Mine, 1885.
OPENING THE CRATERS
235
hope to be protected without cost by the enterprise of the more
liberal and prudent ! The central claim holders counted on the
distance of their claims from the reef to assure their safety, and
the outer circles of claim-holders hung upon luck to shield their
ground. But the frequent recurrence of reef falls and slides,
The French Company's Sling Gear, 1885.
together with the gathering of troublesome water pools, so
emphasized the necessity of combination that a Mining Board
was organized in 1874 by general concurrence of the claim-
holders, with power to levy a comprehensive assessment to cover
the expense of keeping the mine clear of water and fallen reef.
This board took the place of the original " Diggers' Committee "
which had hitherto been charged with the execution of the crude
code of mining regulations.
The creation of this new administrative board was a move
in the right direction, but unfortunately it did not go far
enough. The opening of so large a number of small separate
claims by individual holders barred the essential application of
system to the sinking of the great pit. The Mining Board
lacked the means, if it had the foresight, to undertake the
236 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
checking of the reef slides by cutting back the vertical reef
walls, and it attempted little practically besides the removal of
the drainage and spring water and the clearing away of fallen
reef from the face of the blue ground. This was slipshod
mining at best, for the bare extraction of the reef, which had
slid and fallen over the claims, actually exposed the mine to
further reef slides, and this disaster was aggravated by the utter
lack of system in
clearing off the
fallen debris.
Every claim-
holder was per-
mitted to clear
off his own claim
independently,
and credited with
an allowance of
4^. for every load
of 1 6 cubic feet
of broken reef
removed. The
clearing of the
face of one claim
or a cluster of
claims was no
Loading Tubs at Bottom of Kimberley Mine, 1885. SCCUHtV
repeated reef slides, and barred the possibility of developing
any section of a mine in an economical and well-planned way.
The practical impossibility of opening a little claim, whose
surface area was only 961 square feet, beyond a limited depth
forced the consolidation of claims in spite of the original pro-
hibition of "claim blocking." The poorer sections of ground
were the first to feel the pressure for the enlargement of hold-
ings, and, to secure the continuance of working, permission was
granted in 1874 by the Kimberley Mining Board for the hold-
ing of ten claims by a single owner. This concession led to
OPENING THE CRATERS
237
further combination and consolidation of claims in the hands
of partners and stock companies, but the comprehensive union
essential to the proper development of the mine was far too long
delayed. The mining operations of a number of individual
claim-owners, firms, and companies — whether in keen rivalry
or in varying degrees of energy and listlessness without any sus-
The Standard Company's Claim, Bottom of Kimberley Mine, 1885.
tained concert of views and means — could not be prosecuted
efficiently and prudently within the small area of a diamond-
mine crater. Unluckily for the advance of diamond mining
and the fortune of many struggling claim-holders, this irresist-
ible conclusion was not made clear to the mass of miners until
it was demonstrated after long years of costly fumbling in the
diamond-bearing funnels.
In view of the subdivision of ownership, the incoherence of
the mining operations, and the lack of essential funds, the
Mining Board can hardly be charged with a great part of the
238 THE DIAMOND MINES OE SOUTH AFRICA
Bottom of Dutoitspan Mine Open Workings.
burden of responsibility for the failure to save the mine from
disaster through reef falls. The open pit working was not its
design, but the inexperienced undertaking of a mass of diggers
who could not be prevented from extracting the diamond-bear-
ing ground in their own rude way. They scooped out the
crater to a depth that made reef falls inevitable, and pushed on
their cuts through the body of blue ground, in spite of all warn-
ing falls and slides, long after it was apparent to any mining
engineer that the open pit sinking could not be continued with
safety to the workers or with profit to the owners.
But it is impossible to approve the relief measures of the
Mining Board. It could only check the reef falls at best, tem-
porarily and partially, but it failed to do even this. It set up
expensive hoisting machinery on the surface level at opposite
ends of the mine, and sunk a large vertical shaft (Kendric shaft)
in the reef at a point two hundred yards from the northeast edge
of the crater, with the apparent intention of removing reef rock
through this opening or determining the continuance of the blue
OPENING THE CRATERS
239
ground by a drift to the crater below the pit bottom. The shaft
was driven down to the depth of 286 feet, when a stratum of vol-
canic rock was reached, so hard that the work was abandoned.
No use whatever was made of this costly shaft, and no consid-
erable attempt was made to cut back the dangerous reef wall.
Even with the stinted means at the command of the Board,
something might have been done to preserve the mine, and an
energetic and well-directed push to this end would have com-
manded at least the confidence and support of the more in-
telligent claim-holders. So, when the caving of the reef cast
enormous heaps of debris upon the claims in the pit, the lack of
foresight of the Mining Board was discreditably apparent. The
cost of removing the reef rock was then vastly increased, and
the burden was the heavier because the reef falls prevented the
extraction of the buried blue ground.
Two of the larger companies, the French and the Central,
holding claims in the mine, were the first to undertake the re-
moval of the solid reef on any extensive scale, by sinking shafts,
in 1878-1879, at points several hundred feet distant from the
Pumping Engine in Kimberley Mine, 1875.
24o THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
north and south sides of the mine. By this means considerable
reef was removed, and a third shaft was sunk in 1882 through
the northeast reef border to check the imminent peril at that
edge of the mine. To supplement the service of these shafts
inclined tramways were opened on the west and east sides of
the mine to cut back the upper reef walls, while wire tramways
were stretched from the bottom of the mine to the surface edge
to carry off the fallen reef in large tipping tubs, holding from
1 6 to 32 cubic feet of broken rock. At the end of 1881 tram-
ways, aggregating 19 miles in length, had been constructed by
Incline Tramway for Hauling Reef, 1878.
the claim-holders and the Mining Board. Steam pumping
engines had been put in to pump out the influx of water, and
this obstacle was, at last, easily overcome. To hasten and
cheapen the extraction of blue ground, drilling and blasting were
substituted for hand labor with picks, and the work of mining
was pressed with incessant energy. But the sliding, falling reef
mocked every effort to withstand it.
The work of removal was undertaken too late. The reef
slipped faster than the tram cars and tubs could haul it out.
In 1878 more than a quarter of the surface of the claims in
the mine was covered by fallen reef. The cost of removal,
at the original allowance rate of 4^. per load of 16 cubic feet.
DIAMOND MINKS Of >OUTH AFRICA
south side;-, of the n\--> By this means considerable
•A.J^ removed, and a ' <i.ift was sunk in 1882 through
••theast reef" I : uc k the imminent peril at that
•>r rfv mine. ppinnent the service of these shafts
hned n iinwuvs \*v opened on the west and east sides of
• mine . upper reef walls, while wire tramways
! from r'K bottom of the mine to the surface edge
:o carr M reel in i.trge tipping tubs, holding from
broken imk. At the end of 1881 tram-
wax - miles in len^li, had been constructed by
WATER IN KIMBERLEY MINE, MAY, 1874.
and the Mining Board. Steam pumping
put in to pump out the influx of water, and
, ar last, easiK o\erconu. To hasten and
ctiun offline ground, drilling and blasting were
nd labor with picks and the work of mining
MKessanr energy. But the sliding, falling reef
-r-f to withstand it.
emoval was undertaken too late. The reef
'he (ram cars and tubs could haul it out.
an :i cjiiarter of the surface of the claims in
by fallen reef. The cost of removal,
loua'i.e .i.~e of 4.1-. per load of 16 cubic feet,"
OPENING THE CRATERS
241
mounted so high that the Mining Board was constrained to cut
down the allowance to is. 6d., but even with the rate reduced
the expenditure for reef work and drainage in 1879 anc^ 1880
ran over ^15 0,000 a year, and in 1881 it rose to over ^200,000.
Still, the need of stimulating extraordinary exertion was then so
apparent that the rate was put up to 3^. 9^. a load in October,
1 88 1, and for the eighteen months following fifty-six million
cubic feet of broken reef were hauled away by the claim-holders
Hauling Reef, Kimberley Mine, 1875.
alone, at a cost to the Board of over ^£6 50,000, without reckon-
ing the amount extracted by the operation of its own tramways.
This stupendous charge was obviously too heavy to be
borne even by the richest diamond mine, and no assessment
scheme could sustain it. The Board struggled for months
under the load, issuing notes when it had no cash in hand ; but
in March, 1883, its issue of outstanding notes or " reef-bills " was
so great that its book showed a debit balance of over ^£2 50,000,
and the local banks would extend no further credit. The Board
was bankrupt, reef extraction was stopped, perforce, and the
242 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
claim-holders were face to face with an appalling situation ; for
in spite of all efforts and the outflow of money like a water-
spout, the resistless reef was unchecked. The mine walls con-
tinued to fall in faster than they could be hauled out, and even
central claims in the mine were buried. The gloomiest forebod-
ings fell like a black cloud on the spirits of claim-holders. In
the judgment of
many observers, the
great Kimberley dia-
mond mine was
doomed beyond hope
of resurrection.
The open pit had
been sunk to the
depth of something
over four hundred
feet, in the lowest
working, at the end
of the year 1882. In
order to haul out one
million loads of blue
ground during that
year, three million
loads of reef had
been raised. The
cost of hauling was
increasing with the
deepening of the
mine, and owing to the reef falls, the production of diamonds
was disastrously sinking. In 1883 the lack of funds only per-
mitted the lifting of one and a half million loads of reef at a cost
of ^£250,000, and the output of blue ground sunk to 350,000
loads. In November of that year a long portended reef slide
cast 250,000 cubic yards of shale upon the face of the pit, piling
its mass on the claims half across the mine. This was seemingly
a crushing infliction. It was, at least, a conclusive proof that
Reef Falls, Kimberley Mine, 1881.
OPENING THE CRATERS
243
244 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
open pit sinking was no longer feasible even for the richest
claim-holders. About four million cubic yards of reef had been
hauled at a cost of nearly ^£2,000,000, yet there was no check
to the reef falls and slides. At the close of the year the Inspec-
tor of Mines reported
that " only about fifty
claims had been regularly
worked during the past
year." The field for the
operation of individual
claim-holders was deci-
sively closed. The only
hope for the mine was in
the prosecution of deep
and extensive under-
ground works by the
combination of claims in
hands able to conduct
such operations success-
fully.
In advance of such
an undertaking the yield
of the mine was fortu-
nately sustained by an
The Central Company's Shaft, Kimberley Mine, 1885. eXDCTt makeshift .Mr
Edward Jones, a trained mining engineer, had been one of the
leading contractors fof the removal of reef, and had given close
study to the problem of the continuance of the extraction of blue
ground. Through his design and insistent confidence, in spite of
all doubts and sneers, a shaft was sunk through the mass of fallen
reef at the bottom of the deepest part of the mine by lowering a
square timber frame and shovelling out the loose rock from the
inside of the enclosure. The frame was constructed in sections on
the plan of a coffer dam, adding section to section from the top until
a stout timber shaft passed entirely through the broken shale and
entered the underlying blue ground. The shaft was then read-
OPENING THE CRATERS
245
ily extended, and drifts from this opening were made through
the blue ground. The peculiar service of this device was its
saving of hundreds of feet of costly shaft cutting through the
solid reef to reach the blue ground — a very desirable contribu-
tion at a time when the richest claim-holders were sharply pinched
by the failing mine and the discouragement of capital. The cost
of all development work was defrayed by the blue ground
extracted in opening the drifts and cross-cuts, so that there was
no further delay in resuming operations in the mine. The first
shaft had been sunk on the ground owned by the Central Com-
pany, and it was soon copied by a number of similar shafts in
other parts of the mine. This brought about a most welcome
The Bottom of Kimberley Mine, 1885.
revival of mining, and was so far highly beneficial to the labor-
ers, claim-owners, and townspeople of Kimberley, though it was
not designed for permanent service.
While the blue ground was being removed through shafts
sunk in the bottom of the open mine, it was apparent to all that
246 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
the life of these shafts must be very short. Preparation was
therefore made for future work by sinking shafts outside the
margin of the open mine, and at sufficient distance from it to
insure them against any probable caving of the surface ground
in their vicinity. Vertical shafts were sunk by the Central and
French companies, and tunnels driven from them. The plan
of Kimberley mine, 1883, shows these tunnels.
flpkfsm cnt Vafuohcn
WTKrtcb tofatfst afotitonmcnt/
Before describing the subsequent application of engineering
science to underground mining, it is desirable to trace the prog-
ress of the other mines on the fields to the period in develop-
ment reached by the leader. The claim-owners in De Beers
mine profited greatly by the object lessons given in the opening
of the great pit of Kimberley. For the first twelve years after
the discovery of the mines, the Kimberley mine ran far ahead of
the others from the superiority of its yield for some distance
below the surface. The fatal error of the neglect of the claim-
K DIAM
MINK: OK SOUTH AFRICA
if these shaft-^ ir very short. Preparation was
rrfore made for fin ->rk hy sinking shafts outside the
.;rpn of the open ; , iud at sufficient distance from it to
i;r(. ;he:n ai^.iin- ? *n\- probable caving of the surface ground
thei icinitv tiii-;ai shafts were sunk hy the Central and
reach cuinpanu-. unu tunnels driven from them. The plan
K;niber!r\ 'Mine, i«S8}, shows these tunnels.
ra
& ^r
KIMBERLEY MINE, 1886,
Showing Shafts at the Bottom of the Open Mine
so
v^S i
by t
r"eatly
of K
the subsequent application of engineering
d mining, ir is *i Arable to trace the prog-
es on the fields to the period in develop-
v leader. The claim-owners in De Beers
by the object, lessons gi\ren in the opening
imherlov. For the first twelve years after
ines, the Kimberlev mine ran far ahead of
-upu-i'>ntv of its yield for some distance
r.ror of rhe r.cLjlfcr of the claim-
OF THE
NIVERSITY
C F
OPENING THE CRATERS
247
Reef Slips, Kimberley Mine, 1874.
Kimberley Mine, showing how the Ground cracked before Subsidence.
248 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
owners and Mining Board to cut back the mine walls was appar-
ent in time to save many thousands of pounds to De Beers.
This mine was also fortunate in the comparative hardness and
stability of the basaltic rock stratum overlying the shale and
forming the marginal top of its pit walls. By cutting back the
reef in terraces, the De Beers Mining Board saved the mine
from any serious rock falls for a con- siderable number of
years. Only two hundred and fifteen thousand cubic yards
of reef were removed in the five p/ST^ i years ending with
1882, but this sufficed to /TpSPl protect the mine for
the time. The cost of
^76,000, a
pared with
^' berley
its removal was only
slight burden com-
the charges at Kirn-
mine, and showing a
The Central Company's Atkins Shaft.
cost per yard or per load of reef raised much less than the Kim-
berley average. This was a signal demonstration of the advan-
tage of prudently cutting away the reef before it fell into the pit
and buried prolific claims and increased the hauling charges.
This precaution, however, did not suffice to shield the mine
from disaster when the pit was greatly deepened after the reef
falls at Kimberley had diverted mining enterprise to De Beers.
Over one hundred and forty thousand cubic yards of solid
and broken reef were removed in 1883 and 1884, but reef slides
were fast increasing, and it was judged necessary by the Min-
ing Board to stop any further outlay for reef hauling when the
mine bottom was 350 feet below the surface. The diamond-
bearing ground had then been scooped out of the larger part of
OPENING THE CRATERS
249
The Last of Open Working, Kimberley Mine, 1889. 400 feet deep.
the funnel, but there was still a large area of yellow ground at
the west end which had not yet been extracted because it con-
tained so few diamonds compared with the other parts of the
mine. The falls of reef had covered the eastern end of the
250 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
mine, and early in 1885 the west end yellow ground caved in,
and an enormous mass of nearly five million cubic feet fell in
one day to the bottom of the mine, overlapping the fallen reef
and burying the claims still open for work. This disastrous fall
forced the stoppage of mining for six months until some part of
the reef and yellow ground could be taken out, and mining was
then resumed in a partial and half-hearted way in the open pit,
though it was evident that further pit sinking in the face of such
disasters was irrational mining.
The only possible resource
was the introduction of a system
of underground mining, and the
first attempt in this direction was
made in 1884 by the opening of
a large circular shaft at a point
1000 feet from the north margin
of the mine. This shaft was sunk
vertically about 320 feet in the
reef and then abandoned as too
costly. In its place an incline
was sunk, starting from a point
about 150 feet from the west
side of the claims, and entering
the mine at the edge of the amyg-
daloidal trap underlying the basalt
and shale, so as to avoid the expense of cutting through this
hard rock. This work was begun none too soon, for before the
end of the year 1887 further open pit working was proved to
be utterly impracticable, and was wholly abandoned when the
deepest open digging had been carried in three years only fifty
feet farther than the depth of 350 feet reached in 1884.
Dutoitspan mine opening was practically the same as the
course followed in Kimberley and De Beers. Owing to the com-
parative poorness of the diamond-bearing ground, pit sinking
was not pushed as rapidly as it was at Kimberley, and, in 1874,
most of the miners went over to Kimberley and were glad of the
R. D. Atkins. (Manager of Kimberley
Mine in the earlier days.)
OPENING THE CRATERS
251
No. 2 Incline Shaft, De Beers Mine.
chance of working over the "waste ground" which had been
cast away from the cradles and sieves of the early diggers. Two
years later, when improved methods of handling the ground
were coming into use, the miners flocked back to the abandoned
ground and took out fresh claims. Warned by the experience
of Kimberley, a circle of solid blue ground was left as a buttress
against slides and falls of the encasing reef of shale, and for ten
years this expedient served to shield the miners.
But this safeguard failed when the open working had reached
a few hundred feet in depth. Warning surface cracks had been
Eldorado Road, Dutoitspan Mine, 1874.
252 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
noticed on the northern margin of the mine, but the ardent
diamond seekers kept on digging recklessly, until one day in
March, 1886, when a huge mass of blue ground and reef broke
away suddenly from the northern end of the mine and rolled
over like the surge of a monstrous breaker, falling hundreds of
feet with a fearful crash upon the doomed men at the bottom of
Claims in Dutoiispan Mine.
the pit. The loss of life would have been frightful, but happily
for the miners the fall was at the noon dinner hour, when the
work of hoisting blue ground was stopped and blasting in the
mine was begun. Most of the workmen had left the mine, but
eighteen poor fellows — eight white men and ten Kafirs — had
taken shelter from the blasting in a pumping engine house in
the pit. The avalanche of rock fell on the house, and every one
in it was fatally crushed or scalded by the escaping steam. One
hundred thousand cubic yards of shale and blue ground buried
the claims on the pit bottom, and this fall was followed by others
which ruined the open workings in 1887, when tne mme nad
reached a depth of 400 feet.
In Bultfontein there was only another variation of the same
tale of open pit working and final wreck. The work of extract-
ing the yellow and blue ground was well planned at the outset,
under existing circumstances, by the cutting of inclined road-
ways over which the ground was hauled in bullock carts. In
DIAMOND
F SOUTH AFRICA
-iorr:i.
ot the mine, but the ardent
a^mg recklessly, until one day in
PI ass of blue ground and reef broke
irtliern end uf the mine and rolled
"monstrous breaker, falling hundreds of
pnn the doomed men at the bottom of
BULTFONTEIN MINE, 1878.
kin
!irf.i!, but happily
hour, when the
vppe and blasting in the
rLmen had left the mine, but
e HI en anil ten Kafirs— had
a pum]>intr engine house in
rhe liouse, and every one
'he t-M aping steam. One
ujt and i)!ue ground buried
his tail \vas followed by others
;n iSX-, when the mine had
.•re was oijU' Another variation of the same
PL. ar..i ti.iai wr -ck. The work of extract-
ue groun( :\\ planned at the outset,
stances, bv rhe rurtinyj of inclined road-
'ro'ind was hauled in bullock carts. In
OPENING THE CRATERS
253
1880 effective hauling machinery was substituted for the carts,
and the precious ground was extracted so rapidly that the depth
of about five hundred feet was reached in the open working, a
point probably beyond any attained in the other pits. Here,
too, as at De Beers, there was an effort to protect the mine by
cutting back the reef in terraces ; but this safeguard was tried
too late, and in any event it could only have deferred for a few
years the fate of the mine. Before the close of the year 1889
almost the whole of the pit bottom was covered with fallen reef
and only four engines were at work hauling blue ground.
The Extraction of the Diamonds
While the sinking of the pits was progressing with improved
mining appliances, there had been a considerable advance in the
methods of concentrating the diamond-bearing ground and win-
Bultfontein Mine, 1879.
ning the diamonds. For the first three years after the opening
of the mines, the handling of precious ground was exceedingly
crude and wasteful. The broken ground taken from the craters
was crushed more or less finely by pounding with shovels and
254 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
mallets and clubs. Then it was sifted in rocking troughs, fitted
with sieves like the placer miners' cradles, and the concentrate of
pebbles and crystals and coarse rock grains was spread on tables,
or sheets of iron and wood laid on the ground, where it was
scraped over by hand, and the gems picked out. In this rough
process a third and perhaps a half of the smaller crystals were left
in the waste ground, and the losses from theft were enormous.
In 1874 there was a change for the better in the introduc-
tion of water in concentrating. By building dams and sinking
The First Rotary Washing Machine.
wells the water supply of the camp was increased materially, and
it was possible to divert a portion for the diamond-washing
appliances. Most of the early machines for this purpose were
simple cradles with riffles or ridges set at intervals on the
bottom, and a sieve at the end. The pulverized ground was
dumped into a cradle with a sufficient flow of water to carry off
the slime, while the rocking shook the ground, and caused a
settling of the heavier mineral deposit at the bottom. With one
of these rockers from six to thirteen cartloads of ground were
washed in a day. Another device was a circular trough or pan,
OPENING THE CRATERS
255
fitted with a revolving set of iron teeth like a comb, that stirred
the ground and water and caused the settling of the concentrate.
Another Early Washing Machine, 1874.
This puddling trough would concentrate from twenty-five to
thirty-five cartloads in a working day and cost at first, about
^£250, while the simpler cradle could be bought for ^15, or
less. There were other more elaborate devices, but their cost
put them out of the reach of the ordinary digger. All were
based on one adaptation or another of the puddling principle,
and the fall and separation of minerals of different specific
gravities.
The sorting of the concentrate from the
puddling troughs was done by the same
method employed after the dry sifting,
but there was some improvement in the
Horse-power Washing Machine, 1875.
256 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
OPENING THE CRATERS
257
258 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
precautions against loss by theft. (The natives, who were com-
monly employed in scraping and picking over the mineral de-
posit, were more carefully watched. Some were lodged in tents
and sheds adjoining the stables belonging to claim-owners, and
there was some oversight of them by night as well as by day.
When the claim-owners combined in companies, their workmen
were frequently kept together in enclosures called "compounds,"
where they were furnished with food and shelter at moderate
charges deducted from their pay. This sepa-
ration and partial restriction was of undoubted
service, not only in diminishing the oppor-
tunities for successful theft and disposal
Washing Gear, Bultfontein Mine.
of stolen diamonds, but in checking the drunkenness of the black
workmen and the outbreaks in the canteens and streets.
Progress was made, too, though much too slowly, in the
more perfect pulverization of the blue ground. It was soon
observed that the broken ground would crumble upon exposure
to the air, and after some weeks or months, according to its
hardness, a mass of breccia, thinly spread out and raked over,
would be very largely decomposed to fine sand fit for washing,
without further treatment. This natural pulverization was far
cheaper and better than crushing with mallets ; but the burden
of accumulating and storing great quantities of ground was too
heavy for the ordinary claim-holder, who was dependent upon
quick returns : so only the larger companies maintained stores
OPENING THE CRATERS
259
of ground on their depositing places or " floors," and none of
these, even, were disposed to wait for the adequate pulverization
of the ground by the natural agencies of the sun, air, and rain.
Still the floors were gradually enlarged on the veld, and were
frequently fenced in with wire. Year by year an increasing
proportion of blue ground was pulverized. The average yield
of a truck load, or sixteen cubic feet of blue ground, from Kim-
steam Washing Gear, Kimberley Mine.
berley mine, was computed to be one carat in diamonds, a valu-
ation ranging from twenty-eight to thirty-six shillings, according
to prevailing market rates.
The mining camps changed, year by year, more completely
to the appearance of thriving mining towns. De Beers fused
with De Beers New Rush in the town of Kimberley, while
the town of Dutoitspan rose on its camp site two miles away.
The connecting roadway was lined with straggling houses.
There was little available timber fit for building purposes, but
galvanized iron was very largely substituted for the canvas tents
during the first ten years, and, from 1880 on, many brick build-
ings were erected at Kimberley. Outside of the main business
street there was little attempt at first, to lay out regular avenues,
26o THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
and the diggers shifted their tents or " tin houses " to any
vacant place that suited their fancy. The little galvanized iron
buildings were so light and strongly riveted that they could be
picked up and carried away by a few strong Kafirs. But with
Webb's Washing Machine, 1878.
the growth of the towns stands became more valuable, and title
and possession were more sharply looked after. In 1876 the
valuation of the town of Kimberley for assessment or taxation
purposes was $5,151,500. Churches, schools, banks, hotels,
theatres, concert rooms, and stores and offices of various kinds
were erected to answer the demands of a prospering mining town.
Sidewalks were laid along the principal streets, and after 1874
there was a regular appropriation for street watering. The
houses grew in size and stability. Verandas and porticoes were
added in place of the roof projections that gave a little shade to
the early diggers, and many of the dwellings were set with a
fringe of garden in front or on the sides, in which fruit trees and
vines and choice flowers were planted.
With the advance of the diggings in depth, the combination
OPENING THE CRATERS 261
of claims, and the ending of widespread prospecting, the influx of
whites to the camps fell off greatly. The shifting population
of prospectors dropped to the number that could find employ-
ment in the mines or in the dependent towns. It was estimated
in 1876 that the white population of Kimberley was about eight
thousand, and the native from twelve to fifteen thousand. In
Dutoitspan and Bultfontein there were perhaps six thousand
more of whites and blacks.
The character of this population has been most absurdly
decried. " The Diamond Fields of South Africa," writes one
flighty reporter, " have been hot-beds of rowdyism. The liber-
tines, forgers, bird-catchers, and other outcasts of Europe have
found a refuge there as in Alsatia of old. The Houndsditch Tew
o •/
and the London rough reign supreme." Thousands of wit-
nesses might be summoned, if necessary, to refute this nonsense.
Libertines and forgers drift elsewhere for prey than to hot, dusty
Cape of Good Hope Company's Washing Gear, 1878.
mining camps in the midst of the karroo ; though dainty folk
might shrink from the roughness and grime of the diamond dig-
gings, and weak nerves might be shaken by the boisterous exu-
berance of the bustling camp, the restless crowd tramping the
streets, the uproarious canteens and music halls, and the capers
262 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
of motley diggers and wild Africans. Liquor drinking ran to
excess, as it always does in a prosperous mining camp, and the
natives especially were given to drunkenness ; but the wildest
sprees rarely threatened danger to life, for the hot spirits were
blown off in yells, chants, and dances. Every accurate record
shows that murder and robbery and the more flagrant and brutal
crimes were notably rare compared with the showing of the early
American and Australian mining camps ; and when the turbu-
lence of the rush was over, and the bubbling camps simmered
down to the comparative order and steadiness of the working
Washing Gear, Dutoitspan Mine.
mining towns, there was little disturbance from any outbreak
of ruffianism. In spite of all demoralizing influences, the con-
servative and civilizing agencies and public spirit that advance
communities and exalt good citizenship gained in force year by
year on the Diamond Fields.
Notable progress was made in the provisions for the health
and security of the towns. The most crying need, from the
first, had been pure and abundant water. The average rainfall
of the mining field was only 17.5 inches, and the suffering from
the lack of water in the dry season was scarcely endurable.
Much was done to improve and increase the supply by the sink-
ing of wells and extension of natural reservoirs and the more
OPENING THE CRATERS
263
general introduction of filtering appliances. Dr. Morton noted
in 1876 a marked advance in the health of the population on
the Fields. The death rate at Kimberley, he said, was exceed-
ingly small. The most sickly months of the year were August
and January, marking the effect of the extremes of cold and
heat. Outside of the ailments incident to the dust and exposure
and sudden variations of temperature, there was little disease,
and he particularly observed the complete immunity of the
field from hydrophobia, though every man, woman, and child
appeared to have a dog at their heels.
Washing Gear, Bultfontein Mine, 1878.
It was soon perceived, however, that a more certain and
sufficient supply of water must be obtained to meet the growing
demands of the towns and mines. This was secured through
the enterprise of the men associated in the Kimberley Water
Works Company, by the construction of a pumping station at
Riverton on the Vaal River and the laying of a main sixteen
miles in length to a reservoir on a ridge of the Bultfontein
farm, near Kimberley. The water from the river was raised in
three stages by powerful compound condensing engines, and car-
ried to the large reservoir on the ridge, five hundred feet above
264 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
the river level. From this reservoir it was distributed by a pipe
and hydrant system to the towns and the mines. Since the
construction of this fine plant, the towns have been supplied with
filtered water at a cost of is. per 100 gallons ; and mines using
great quantities have a concession materially lowering this rate.
The amount of water sold to Kimberley annually has run as
high as 230,000,000 gallons and more than 300,000,000 have
been supplied to the mines. The cost of the machinery and plant
was over ^300,000. Mr. E. A. Cowper, the consulting engi-
neer of the Water Works Company, designed the machinery, and
Mr. George Buchanan, C.E., was the constructing engineer in
the erection of the plant.
The maintenance of peace and order on the Diamond Fields
was helped forward materially by the construction of " com-
pounds," providing good lodging and food for the natives, check-
ing their drunkenness, promoting steady industry, and enforcing
restrictions essential to the common security. The police force
of the towns was from the start so small that the tolera-
tion of this condition attests the comparative rarity of brutal
crimes on the Fields. Its very marked improvement with the
growth of the town, in later years, was rather due to the rising
demand for advance in every civic and social condition than to
any increase in disorderly conduct or the commission of crimes.
Diamond stealing and illicit diamond buying were, beyond
all question, the worst plague of the camps and towns. Outside
of this line of operation there was practically no opening and no
temptation for the professional thief and receiver of stolen goods;
but the opportunities were unfortunately too apparent and easy
for filching and disposing of diamonds. The sharpest oversight
could scarcely prevent nimble-fingered workers from slyly secret-
ing tiny crystals in picking over the concentrates on the sorting
tables or in handling the deposit in the rockers and puddling pans.
While the natives were allowed to rove about freely after their
day's work was done, they had little difficulty in transferring the
diamonds to the hands of the sharpers, who were always in wait
for the chance of buying stolen stones for little money.
OPENING THE CRATERS 265
Offices were opened by diamond buyers in the mining towns,
either as independent merchants or as representatives of large,
foreign wholesale dealers and diamond cutters, and besides these
established purchasers, there were a number of traders who made
regular rounds through the diggings, buying from claim-owners
in their tents or houses or at the sorting table. These peripa-
tetic dealers were familiarly known as " kopje wallopers," for
kopjes were the sites of the chief surface digging. No doubt
there were dishonest men among these dealers, small and large ;
for the frequent temptations were too strong for slight scruples,
and it is certain also that many diamonds were bought under
cover by saloon and shop keepers and other speculative traders
who came into familiar contact with the diggers.
It is plain that it was impossible to trace or identify a stolen
diamond, even when the theft was known, and great quantities
of gems were secretly bought and carried to the coast towns
for sale or forwarded stealthily to foreign markets. It has been
estimated that fully fifty per cent of the diamonds taken from
the diggings in the early years were secreted and sold specula-
tively. This is undoubtedly an extravagant reckoning, but
there is no question that a large percentage were filched away.
To give some idea of the enormous quantity of diamonds
that were stolen in the early days of the fields, and before the
compound system was adopted, the following notice is repro-
duced : —
NOTICE
The undermentioned rough and uncut diamonds having from time
to time been recovered by this Department, notice is hereby given to all
whom it may concern, that unless proof of the bona fide right to the
possession of such diamonds be given, or a proper permit for the same
be produced within ten days from the date hereof, such diamonds will be
sold and the proceeds of such sale carried to the account of the Govern-
ment.
JOHN FRY,
Chief of Detective Department of Griqualand West.
MAY 24th, 1883.
266 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Underneath the notice was a schedule showing -
The number of carats. From whom recovered. How acquired.
The number of carats ranged from half a carat to 6375
carats, which were found in the possession of one man. The
total number reached 8443 carats, which were recovered from
fifty persons. Two days later a similar notice appeared stating
that 1573^ carats had been recovered, having been found in the
possession of a well-known dealer in illicit diamonds. The
total value of these two lots would amount to ,£30,000 or
^40,000.
The practice of illicit diamond buying was so persistent and
obnoxious that it was curtly styled I. D. B., and the strictest
possible regulations were made to check it and punish offenders.
A Special Court was established in 1880 ! to try cases of this kind,
and a special police force formed with warrant to make the most
rigorous search of suspected thieves and receivers. Under the
Diamond Trade Act every parcel of diamonds taken from the
Fields must be formally described and registered, and every
transfer recorded from the date of discovery till the final ship-
ment from the Cape Colony. No person was permitted to deal
in diamonds unless he held a formal license, and his record books
of purchase and sale were always open to police inspection.
Thefts of diamonds and illicit purchasers were punished with all
possible rigor.
1 A Special Court was established under ordinance No. 8 of 1880. A barrister
was appointed as Special Magistrate to act with the Resident Magistrate and the
Additional Resident Magistrate. Under Act No. 48 of 1882 the Special Court for
mining offences consisted of three persons, of whom at least one was a judge of the
Supreme Court. The other two were usually the Resident Magistrate and the Civil
Commissioner. By proclamation No. 144, dated September I, 1882, the districts
of Kimberley, Herbert, Hay, and Barkly were within the jurisdiction of the Special
Court. Act No. 34 of 1888 provided that the Special Court should consist of three
members, two of whom must be judges of the Supreme Court. Persons convicted
by the Special Court might appeal to the Supreme Court.
CHAPTER IX
THE MOVING MEN
N the rush of adventurers over the Diamond
Fields the individual was inevitably merged in
the mass. He might feel the pulse of latent
powers, the unslaked thirst of ambition, but
he must be for the time no more than a drop
of water in the rapid, a locust in the swarm.
He was one of a myriad which exulted in the enforced equality
of living and opportunity.
There can scarcely be a purer democracy than an infant
camp in such a field. Imperial sovereignty or feeble state asser-
tion barely cast a shadow of authority over the stretch of " No
Man's Land," the chrysalis of the Colony of Griqualand West.
One man here was as good as another in his own mind, and free
to maintain it. In the seething stream of humanity that poured
into the Diamond Fields it mattered not whether one was to the
manor born or cradled in a manger, the son of a peer or a beg-
gar's brat. In the hot scramble for diamonds in the dirt, all
ranks were levelled. The rough sailor jostled the captain, the
university graduate swung his pick side by side with the navvy,
and the last of the Vere de Veres snored in his sheepskin kaross
back to back with a hopeless Japhet. The representative
"Diggers' Committee" was merely the executive hand of the
body of prospectors, the instrument of the will of the masses.
The distribution of the diamond beds from the start marked
the strain for equality, the hostility to aggrandizement ; and the
relation of demand to supply compelled the division into little
patches of holdings. It was years before the acquisition of more
than two claims by one person was tolerated, and only imperious
267
268 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
necessity forced the further consolidation of claims when the
mines had reached a depth that made patch-working impracticable.
In this mass movement and equalizing of opportunity, the
rise and display of strong individuality were necessarily subdued
and slow to appear. In the years of the rush and the early
advance of the mines, it is the life of the mass and not of the
fractional unit that makes the history of the Fields. But with
changing conditions, as the years rolled on, the way was opened
for individual assertion, influence, and distinction. Then the
men, hitherto unmarked, stood up preeminent. Then the brains
that were capable of great conceptions and great performances
found pressing occasion for all their foresight and energy. The
history of the great mines that have explored the diamond-bear-
ing craters so far beyond the pitfalls of the prospecting diggers
is very essentially a story of remarkable men.
In July, 1873, a young Hebrew, Barnett Isaacs, took passage
from England to Cape Town at the call of his brother from the
new Diamond Fields. His
grandfather was a learned and
honored rabbi, and the good
standing of his family was
marked by the marriage of
his father, Isaac Isaacs, to a
relative of Sir George Jessels,
Master of the Rolls. But the
son of the rabbi was only a
small, plodding, frugal shop-
keeper in London. His sons,
Henry and Barnett, were
trained in the excellent He-
brew Free School in Spital-
fields,but both boys left school
at the age of fourteen to help their father in his shop. Henry
was drawn away in the current of the early rush to the Diamond
Fields in 1871, and had such success as a kopje walloper that he
wrote home to urge his brother to join him.
Barnett Isaacs.
THE MOVING MEN 269
To the restless spirit and purely speculative mind of Barnett
Isaacs there was magnetic attraction in such a field with its
novel and gleaming opportunities. With instant decision he
took the steamer for Cape Town, and made the tiresome trip
over veld and karoo to Kimberley with unfailing pluck and
good temper.
He was only twenty years old, and outwardly no more than
a light-hearted boy, bubbling over with high spirits and comical
conceits. But his fondness for athletic sports, theatrical extrava-
ganzas, and practical jokes, and his contempt for conventional
restraints, were merely the surface froth covering invincible
energy and facile grasp of opportunities. He had an unshak-
able self-reliance, a quick perception, and a fertile resourceful-
ness that bore him up when feebler men sank. One could
scarcely cast him in any society or any place on earth, where his
nimble wits would not win him a living.
The impulse to go ahead was in his blood. " It has always
been a superstition with me," he said, " never to turn back."
He grew apace with the calls upon his powers. He did not pro-
fess to know more than he knew, but he was never content to
know anything that interested him by report. " I must look
into everything that concerns me for myself." This determina-
tion was a safeguard. He once boasted, in a rare fit of parade,
that he had never made a mistake in his investment of money
in his life. But his incessant activity was fatally wearing. He
could not dawdle. He could hardly rest. For many years his
extraordinary vitality and endurance kept him running. He
had the precious faculty of dropping off to sleep at any moment
of relaxation, and awaking after slumbering for a few moments.
Nevertheless no creature of flesh and blood could endure the
strain which he bore and recklessly courted. " Some day such
a bundle of quivering nerves must snap, either life or brain must
go," said one of his closest friends. But when young Barnett
Isaacs wandered into Dutoitspan, " fit for anything," as he him-
self declared, after his long tramp and meals of porridge and
biltong, nobody saw in him the raw material of one of the
27o THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
remarkable financiers of the century, or forecast, even dimly, the
meteoric career of Barney Barnato.
His brother Henry had fancied and taken the name of Bar-
nato, as a professional shift from his own family name, when he
first came to the Diamond Fields and tried his luck first as a
conjurer and vaudeville performer, relying upon the sleight of
hand proficiency which he had gained in boyish practice to
amuse his friends. Henry soon turned his hand to the more
profitable business of a diamond trader, but his stage name stuck
to him, and passed naturally to his younger brother, who accepted
it with easy indifference. So young Barnett Isaacs became
familiarly known as " Barney Barnato," and for the first year
or two of his life on the Diamond Fields floated along in the
current as " Harry Barnato's brother." But his head never
sank below the surface for a moment. His first buoy was
a cigar box. He had money enough to buy sixty boxes of
cigars after paying his way to Kimberley. With this working
capital he went into partnership with Louis Cohen, another new-
comer, who had started as a kopje walloper. The two young
Hebrews picked out a shanty to their liking for an office. It
was a little tin shed, eight feet by six, owned by an Irishman
who offered it for rent at a guinea a day.
" That is ridiculous," said Cohen.
"I don't know that," said Barnato. "The situation is good,
why not pay a guinea a day if you can make thirty shillings ? "
This keen measuring was typical. Barney Barnato never
counted cost alone if he wanted anything, but weighed it instantly
against probable profit. He was never a thoughtless or reckless
buyer. He did not shut his eyes to the risks of loss. On the
contrary, he reckoned risks with exceptional accuracy and pre-
cision of detail, but he reckoned profits with the same even-
balanced judgment. Hence he was not afraid to venture when
others shrank back. He was naturally sanguine. He had faith
in himself, and put all his working force into everything that he
undertook. So his high-pressure energy, persistently maintained,
won success where a weaker and idler man would have failed.
THE MOVING MEN 271
There was no peculiar luck in his favor. Thousands around
him had equal chances or better. He went to the front because
he had the brains to choose aright and the working powers to
make his choice profitable. He made mistakes as men of his
sanguine temper must, but he did not make many mistakes, and
no fatal or even greatly damaging ones.
There is no business without risks. The most prudent man
cannot engage in mining or in trading in mineral products with-
out risks. If hot-headed speculation has swamped fortunes in
such a field, it is no less certain that overstrained caution has
failed to win anything memorable. There is a happy and rare
mean of sagacious judgment in mining operations, and Barney
Barnato proved his possession of such judgment incontestably.
His mind worked so quickly, and his mental calculations were
so exact and minute, that it was often supposed that he jumped
at conclusions. " Barnato's snap judgment," sneered a man
whom he outbid in competition ; " Barnato's sheer luck,"
growled the man who saw his judgment turn to gold.
The young partners, Barnato and Cohen, worked hard, early
and late. Barnato's keen eye gained a valuable business con-
nection in a way that suggests his kinship to Sherlock Holmes.
One of the most successful " kopje wallopers " (a name given
to men who visited the various miners' huts for the purpose of
buying diamonds) made regular rounds through the diamond
fields on an old, lame, yellow pony, calling on men who had
the best bargains in diamonds to offer. Barnato and Cohen
tried repeatedly to follow him, but his track was soon lost in
the labyrinth of tents, huts, and sand heaps. However, Barnato
was able to see that the trader's pony had the habit of stopping
at places where choice bargains were made, and when the broken-
down beast was offered for sale one day by its owner, Barnato
snapped at the chance to buy him for ^£27 IQJ., an enormous
price for the old pony as a steed, but a great bargain for the
keen diamond broker, for the walloper's business went with his
pony, as he afterward saw to his chagrin.
Soon Barnato became known as a " walloping walloper,"
272 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
and in the third year of his push into the Fields he was able
to crown a new ambition by the purchase of a block of four
claims in one of the best-paying sections of the Kimberley mine.
His savings were then about ^£3000, and he put nearly every
pound he was worth into his purchase. His seemingly risky
investment was quickly justified by the yield of his claims.
With the help of this great investment he came swiftly into
prominence. Entering into partnership with his brother, he
established the firm of Bar-
nato Brothers in 1880, as a
London and Kimberley firm
of diamond dealers and brok-
ers in mining properties, and
crowned a further ambition
by combining his own claims
with adjoining holdings in his
first mining stock organiza-
tion, " The Barnato Diamond
Mining Company."
He was one of many
quick-sighted and resourceful
men who perceived that the
day for any profitable work-
ing of individual claims had
passed, while the body of
miners was still struggling
c. j. Rhodes, when a student at Oxford. along blindly in the great cav-
ing chasms. He brought about a highly desirable amalgamation
of the claims which he controlled with those of the Standard
Company, one of the strongest organizations in the Kimberley
Mines, and later these claims were amalgamated with the hold-
ings of the Kimberley Central Company, in which he became a
large shareholder. It was at this stage in his fortunes that he
came into keen rivalry with the only competitor that could make
headway successfully against him, Cecil John Rhodes.
There was a singular likeness in some respects in the careers,
tic was able
block of four
Kimberley mine.
put nearly every
- seemingly risky
id of his claims.
ici came swiftly into
virh his brother, he
i the firm of Bar-
ters in 1880, as a
tnd Kimberley firm
<>nd dealers and brok-
•.•mirig properties, and
i further ambition
";mng his own claims
: K.uning holdings in his
•;:ing stock organiza-
PORTRAIT OF CECIL JOHN RHQD^SBarnato Diamond
<. ompany."
was one of many
sighted and resourceful
\ho perceived that the
.lav for any profitable work-
< -t individual claims had
while the body of
v( as still struggling
ti- nelly in the great cav-
desirable amalgamation
>->e of the Standard
• •'is in the Kimberley
:<!.-.•. rmted with the hold-
in which he became a
in his fortunes that he
-'pe'itor that could make
i John Rhodes.
• ;IIH' respects in the careers,
THE MOVING MEN 273
conceptions, and calculations of these extraordinary men, although
they were so markedly dissimilar in personal appearance and
temperament. Cecil John Rhodes was the fifth son of a Hert-
fordshire clergyman and came to South Africa as a sickly boy
of seventeen, arriving in Durban, September i, 1870, in the first
flush of the diamond fever, to join his eldest brother Herbert
on a small cotton plantation in Natal. Early in 1871 Herbert
Rhodes, leaving his brother in charge of the plantation, joined
the great rush to the New Diamond Fields. Cecil Rhodes
followed a few months later, and arrived on the Fields in June.
The raw, dusty Diamond Fields were apparently one of the spots
least likely to attract a youth whose health had broken down, and
whose tastes were bent from early childhood toward a scholar's
life in the cloisters of a university appealing to every high
imagination in its memorials of every age since the dawn of
letters in Britain. So indeed it seemed when young Rhodes
turned his back on the glitter of the new mines and returned
to England.
His name had been entered on the rolls of Oriel College,
Oxford, before his departure for South Africa. Rhodes passed
the matriculation examination during October, 1873. But the
following year saw his return to Kimberley, because of a lung
fever that threatened his life, and made the shift from misty
England to the mild clear air of the high veld an imperative
prescription. Shortly after his return Herbert Rhodes left the
Diamond Fields to follow the more congenial life of an explorer
and hunter in the interior of Africa, where he was burned to
death in September, 1879, while sleeping in a grass hut which
took light from the camp fire.1
Another brother, Francis W. Rhodes (Col. Frank Rhodes,
the distinguished soldier), joined his brothers for a short time.
I have been able, through the kindness of Mr. J. Dick-
Lauder, one of the early diggers on the Fields, to reproduce
some old photographs depicting the early camp life at De
Beers and showing Cecil Rhodes and others sorting the yellow
1 " Cecil Rhodes," by Howard Hensman, 1901.
274 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
ground for diamonds. See illustration between pages 274
and 275.
So unknown to each other and blind to their future clash
and union, Cecil John Rhodes, the clergyman's son, and Barney
Barnato, the London shopboy, started abreast in the race for
fortune on the same track. An ordinary observer of the two
young men would probably have picked Barnato as the winner
on such a track as the new Diamond Fields. Any one could see
at a glance that the young Hebrew was unsinkable, and pecul-
iarly fitted to make a good living in the stirring towns by his
business training, quick wit, and racial genius for trade, while
the English college student had no apparent fitting for success
either as a digger or a business man. Kipling has told of the
straining of the new ship, as a living thing, in the trial to find
herself, and this fine conception has literal truth in the applica-
tion to young manhood. So Cecil John Rhodes was forced to
find himself, as he did, when he put away his books to plunge
into the whirling life of the Great White Camps.
Tall, gaunt, shy, the stripling sat at the diamond sorting
table, overseeing the Kafirs who scraped over the pebbles from
his brother's claim, on a little " floor " near the edge of the big
Kimberley pit. Roughly dressed, coated with dust, disdainful
of any foppish touch, peculiarly self-contained, full of novel ideas
and aspirations rising, turning, and shaping themselves in his
mind, he was not one to mingle, like Barnato, in every stir
of the froth in the camps, or ready to jump, like the London
shopboy, into any gush of speculation, from a bet at cards to an
auction sale. Externally the two young men could scarcely be
more unlike than the little, chunky, bullet-headed, near-sighted,
mercurial Hebrew, taking a hand in current sport or traffic, and
the tall, thoughtful, young overseer, sitting moodily on a bucket,
deaf to the chatter and rattle about him, and fixing his blue eyes
intently on his work, or on some fabric of his brain.
Yet both were alike in their expanding ambition and power
to grapple and mould in their distinctive ways the opportunities
about them. Both had keen foresight, and extraordinary com-
.no g;
274 THE DIAMOND Mf\KS OF SOUTH AFRICA
ground for JUKI illustration bti*een pages 274
arui 275.
/ier and blind ro their future clash
and union, > ie% the clergyman's son, and Barney
Barrnr > .'.opboy, started abreast in the race for
An ordinary observer of the two
:>abiv have picked Barnato as the winner
evv Diamond {• it-ids. Any one could see
at a t tha: ;he young Hebrc - uas unsinkable, and pecul-
r in rhe stirring towns by his
.ui! genius for trade, while
ue studt-ir > apparent fitting for success
in. UK Kipling has told of the
:-ig thing, in the trial to find
• i.is literal truth in the applica-
From Left to Righthn Rhodes was forced to
J. Dick Lauder, shovelling. Frank ^od^soglng ,
N. Garstin, screening. , v, -Dr. Atherstone, looking dn.
Herbert Rhodes, screening. Cecil Rhodes, sorting.
Macleod, sorting. ' Nesfcit.ibrtiri^1111
;f rs wiu> sci aped over the pebbles from
'i-tlc " floor" near rhe edge of the big
dressed, coated with dust, disdainful
/Marly self-contained, full of novel ideas
.lining, and shaping themselves in his
> mingle, like Harnato, in every stir
ivady to jump, like the London
•culation, from a. bet at cards to an
•oung men could scarcely be
-headed, near-sighted,
\.rj-cnr sport or traffic, and
oversee moodily on a bucket,
, and fixing his blue eyes
>n some hNnc of I; is brain.
uiing ambition and power
••p « and ;^!i!.. -. their disti.'.^n . e ways the opportunities
: foresight, and extraordinary com-
Standing.
N. Garstin.
Macleod.
Cecil Rhodes.
Frank Rhodes.
Nesbit.
From Left to Right.
Sitting.
Herbert Rhodes.
Dr. Atherstone.
Up the Trie.
]. Dick Lauder.
prehension of g;
essential poi uracy
and punctur; Wi
same end of _
making, of u;
of proving to the ••
chieflx
throw the s
Dark Contin
THE MOVING MEN
275
Silver Trees. (These trees grow only on the slopes of Table Mountain.)
prehension of great financial undertakings. Both had, too, the
essential poise and accuracy of judgment that shuns pitfalls
and punctures illusions. With variant motives they sought the
same end of great riches : one for the sheer satisfaction of money
making, of unfolding great schemes of production and flotation,
of proving to the world that he was a master of finance ; the
other chiefly as a means to reach ends of Imperial scope, to
throw the searchlights of civilization into every cranny of the
Dark Continent, to lift the prodigious dead weight of unnumbered
276 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
bygone ages of barbarism, to make the waste lands fruitful and
open the arteries of traffic, to create a Greater Britain than the
most daring fancy before him had conceived, and stretch the
hand of his Queen over a realm transcending the farthest sweep
of the Macedonian or the Roman.
Both realized very keenly the practical necessity of effecting
combinations of the claims covering the diamond mines in order
to provide a uniform and efficient development and to secure
a scarcely less essential control of the diamond output. The
patent collapse of the open pit mining forced the undertaking
of underground works, and compelled the further consolidation
of holdings ; but
for too many years
there was no com-
mon realization of
the urgent need of
the systematic de-
velopment of the
mines as a united
property, and not
as a complex col-
lection of discord-
A Cape Cart. ant parts. The
working of the parts was at best cramped and conflicting. The
prosecution of any well-designed plan was heavily handicapped
by the lack of cooperation in adjoining properties.
This was sharply etched in by Barnato after Rhodes had
successfully pressed the amalgamation of the variant interests.
" I think I can prove to you, gentlemen," he said, in addressing
a shareholders' meeting in 1889, "that in order to work the
underground system, you must have the mines intact. You all
remember the trouble and friction that took place when the De
Beers mine was being worked by the De Beers Company, the
Victoria, the Oriental, the Elma, the Gem, and others. Why
was the underground system not a success in this case ? Because
one company was working against another; that is to say, if one
VII
KIMBERLEY MINE
VIII
IX
XIY
Xlli
XII
XI
IX
Ylll
VII
IV
let-ten "A" lo "H" n»Te been substituted
for names on plan for lack of space.
A MOOR & BERNARD
B FRIESLICH
C WOLHUTER A BLANCH
D FEW & PI8TORIUS
F I. ROBINSON
r MATTHEWS, ANDERSON 4 MATHIESON
G LAMB 4 HOOD
H WALLI8 A HAWKINS
Claims in black belonged
to W. A. Hall.
iHtiuvu ir ipmir * eo., N.T
on-.-- -,r >. aoo;/ A
r-ssf38*53
.•%A.aariplS^»fc.
•
"teSJI
i,f- i :i.i •<• ?T. :
-5*. ;•"— '"•!„. Wi f-
THE MOVING MEN
277
company was on the five hundred feet level, the opposing com-
panies could go and eat into each other's boundary walls and
pillars to such a dangerous extent that the entire mine was in
a condition which threatened collapse at any moment."
This was so patently true, and more particularly in Kimber-
ley mine, that it may seem surprising that the disastrous conflict
was so long maintained. But it must be borne in mind that
the average shareholder was not as quick to see and prompt to
move for a remedy as Rhodes, and comparatively few had his
intimate and comprehensive knowledge of the condition of all
the mines in the Fields. A very large proportion of the investors
in these mines were men who had never been on the Fields at all,
or whose acquaintance was limited to a sightseer's visit. Many,
too, had bought shares simply as a gamble in the stock market,
and only welcomed such information or reports as were calculated
to boom their speculations.
It was obviously labor lost to attempt to interest such men
in any far-reaching plan for the union and systematic develop-
ment of all the mining claims in the craters, and most of them
would have sneered it away as a mere chimera if it had been laid
before them. This was indeed a project which might well have
appalled an ordinary man, even if he had the clear sight and
comprehension of the position essential to a true judgment.
Anybody might dream of such a gigantic combination, and some
day-dreamer might babble about it to his gossips, but what man,
or association of men, would have the foresight and patience, the
perseverance and tact, the integrity and fulness of talent, to push
forward toward it for years, to thrust aside or crush blocks in
the way, to harmonize discordant and jealous interests, to open
the eyes of narrow-sighted selfishness, to win the confidence of
the distrustful, to design a scheme of union that would make all
holders of good working claims common shareholders on a basis
of equity and assured profit to all, and finally to provide the
enormous capital necessary for the consummation of the scheme,
and the development of the great diamond mines in a really
great way ?
278 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Here was a task of such tremendous magnitude and difficulty
that men of good ordinary judgment might well question its
feasibility. What man in or out of the Fields would dare attempt
it ? Who could do it, if he dared to venture ? There is a mighty
fillip to the conceit of man, that in such great exigencies as these
— in times when some prodigious undertaking is imperatively
needed — the man or men who can carry it on to completion
are almost always forthcoming. " Nothing is impossible nowa-
days," said the " Bonanza King," Flood, when doubts were
raised of the practicability of piping water from the Sierra
Nevada Mountains to the Comstock Silver Mines on the
Virginia range ; " the only question is, will it pay ? " That
seems, indeed, the only touchstone which men of such pith and
temper are disposed to apply to any object. It was again made
evident on South African Diamond Fields how far the possible
stretches when men with Flood's touchstone are the adven-
turers. The moving men, who could comprehend the need for
union and effect it, came irresistibly to the front in the Fields.
The undertaking to which they set their hands should be
clearly set forth. In spite of the ruin of the open mine work-
ings in the competing development scramble, and in spite of the
continuing conflict and recurrent disasters in the underground
mining so cogently enforcing the call for union, there were
still, at the end of 1885, no less than ninety-eight separate hold-
ings in the four mines. In Kimberley mine there were eleven
companies and eight private holdings ; in De Beers there were
seven companies and three private holdings ; in Dutoitspan, six-
teen companies and twenty-one private holdings ; in Bultfontein,
eight companies and twenty-four private holdings. Thus the four
mines were operated by a total of forty-two companies and fifty-
six private firms or persons, all clashing within a surface area
of 70 acres. The original location claims, aggregating 3600,
had been united to this extent, merely, at the close of fourteen
years of mining on the helter-skelter plan.
It is hardly just to credit Rhodes and Barney Barnato with
an equal perception of the imperative call for the union of all
THE MOVING MEN
279
Mr. C. D. Rudd.
the discordant interests in the diamond mines. Each reached
the conclusion that it was no longer possible to continue to
work the mines divided into small
holdings which were controlled by
men antagonistic to one another.
Rhodes's interests were mostly in
De Beers mine, and Barnato's
largely in the Kimberley mine. In
the same year, 1880, in which Bar-
nato floated successfully his first
diamond-mining corporation, "The
Barnato Mining Company," con-
sisting of a few claims in a rich
section of the Kimberley mine,
Rhodes and others founded the De Beers Mining Company,
on the contiguous diamond-bearing crater.
It is of interest in this connection to trace the origin of De
Beers Mining Company through
the early years of De Beers mine.
In 1 873 Rhodes united his claims
in De Beers mine with those of
C. D. Rudd, and they slowly in-
creased their holdings. Robert
Graham joined them in 1874,
and later Runchman, Hoskyns
& Puzey took part with them in
the purchase of Baxter's holdings.
This combination, in addition to
mining their own ground, took
pumping contracts to drain the
mine. Besides the above combi-
nation there were other competi-
tors for the purchase of claims,
such as Dunsmure & Alderson,
Stow & English, and these three firms gradually acquired all the
best ground in De Beers mine except the Elma Company, owned
Mr. Robert English.
28o THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
by Thomas Shiels and others, the Victoria Company in which
J. Ferguson was then the leading spirit, and the United Dia-
mond Mining Company.
The De Beers Mining Company was formed on the ist of
April, 1880, with a capital of ^200,000, by the union of the
three firms first mentioned. It progressed with extraordinary
success, extending its range of ownership, absorbing step by step
its floundering neighbors, and finally standing out preeminent
in March, 1885, with a capital of ,£841,550, upon which divi-
dends of 7-| per cent had been paid during the last fiscal year,
in spite of the heavy charges of development work and the un-
avoidable hampering of its mining operations. Mr. Rudd states
that at one time Rhodes and he had the offer of the entire De
Beers mine for £"6,000, and they walked about a whole day
talking it over, but finally decided they could not finance it.
The licenses at that time were so costly that it was thought wise
not to risk the purchase. Money was not very plentiful among
these men in those days, as is shown by one of the first checks
of the De Beers Mining Company, which was drawn by Rhodes
in his own favor for £5, "as an advance against his salary as
secretary."
It is possible that Barnato may have tried to bring about a
further consolidation of some of the various interests in Kim-
berley mine, but there is nothing to show that he contemplated
any broad scheme.
For nearly six years Rhodes concentrated his efforts in the
Diamond Fields toward obtaining complete control of De Beers
mine by himself and his chosen friends, and he brought about
this consolidation of all the holdings in May, 1887. His
master mind was steadfastly bent on the attainment of the con-
trol of the development and output of the four great diamond-
producing mines of South Africa, and his work of first uniting
all the interests in De Beers mine was but the beginning of his
great dream. The range for amalgamation of the four mines
was so great that no single man, however ambitious, could hope
to cover it by any single-handed effort. The consolidation of
THE MOVING MEN 281
all the companies in De Beers mine was on the lines conceived
by Rhodes, and carried out by the support given him by the
leading men who were interested in the various companies.
Up to this time there was no rivalry between Rhodes and
Barnato, for no measures had been taken by Rhodes to obtain
a footing in Kimberley mine. The first steps taken in this
direction were to try to purchase the claims in the west end of
the Kimberley mine held by the Cape of Good Hope bank,
and known as W. A. Hall's claims. This was in the beginning
of May, 1887. Unfortunately, however, for Rhodes's scheme,
these claims had already been offered to a syndicate in London,
headed by Sir Donald Currie, and were purchased by that syndi-
cate for £ 1 1 0,000. The plan which Rhodes had in his mind
was to purchase these claims, and also to purchase the claims
of the " Compagnie Fra^aise des Mines de Diamant du Cap
de Bon Esperance," known as the " French Company." The
" French Company " held a block of claims which ran nearly
across the mine from north to south, and divided the holdings
o
of the Central Company. It also held a block of claims adjoin-
ing those of W. A. Hall, but these were not connected with the
main body of their claims, being separated by the intervening
claims of the Central Company. These two companies were
so antagonistic to one another that neither would allow the
divided blocks of ground to be worked by means of tunnels
driven through the diamond-bearing ground of the opposing
company. The Central Company worked its claims by two
separate shafts sunk in the blue ground at the bottom of the
open mine, and the ground hoisted in the shafts was sent to the
surface by means of aerial trams, while the " French Company "
was compelled to drive tunnels into the walls of the mine adjoin-
ing the claims and connect them by a cross tunnel, as they were
working through one shaft only.
To create a powerful company in Kimberley mine was sub-
stantially all that the leading men in that mine had been work-
ing for, but this was far from satisfying Rhodes. Barnato viewed
the situation as a speculator and investor. Money making
282 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
7 OF THE
(i UNIVERSITY
THE MOVING MEN 283
through mining on a sound basis was avowedly the limit of his
scheme, apart from a natural pride in figuring as the foremost
operator in these marvellous Diamond Fields, and a rising star
of the first magnitude on the London Stock Exchange. But the
assurance of money making was, at most, a minor consideration
with Rhodes. He, too, valued money highly, but not for the
bare delight in piling it up or for the luxuries which it would
purchase. Great wealth was to him the essential means for the
furtherance of great plans. He wanted millions in hand, or the
assured control of millions, to push his design for the lighting-up
of the Dark Continent by the torchbearers of civilization, for the
carrying of the flag of Greater Britain from the Cape to Cairo.
A man of kindred spirit, but of far more quixotic temper,
the great soldier, General Gordon, once told him of the offer of
a roomful of gold by the Chinese Government for his extraordi-
nary services in subduing the Tai-Ping rebellion.
" What did you do ? " said Rhodes.
" Refused it, of course," said the disdainful Gordon. " What
would you have done ? "
" Done," said Rhodes, " why, I would have taken it, and as
many more roomfuls as the Chinese would give me. It is no
use to us to have big ideas, if we have not got the money to
carry them out."
The range of his plans and how he pursued them will be
presented in detail in the chapter dealing with the far-reaching
undertakings of the great Chartered Company which he con-
ceived and brought into existence. It is sufficient to note at
D
present that he pushed the development of his grand political
aims apace with the means at his command, from the very begin-
ning of his appearance as a prominent factor in the development
of the diamond mines. He entered the Cape Parliament as
a member for the district of Barkly West, almost coincidently
with the formation of the De Beers Mining Company. From
the day of his entrance into the political field, he worked un-
waveringly for the extension of British dominion into the heart
of Africa.
284 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
THE MOVING MEN
285
The northern boundary of the province of Griqualand West,
formed by the inclusion of the new Diamond Fields, had not
been determined by careful surveying, and the location of the
line was disputed by the Batlapin chief, Mankoroane, who
claimed control of the territory which is now Lower Bechuana-
land. Rhodes prevailed on the Cape Government to form
and send out a Delimitation Commission for the settlement of
Avenue of Oaks, Cape Town. House of Parliament at the Left.
the dispute, and his appointment as one of the commissioners
was a natural recognition of his interest and competence.
Shortly after he reached the frontier he was able to satisfy
himself that the complaint of the chief was well founded. Some
seventy farms belonging to Mankoroane's tribe had been in-
cluded in error within the bounds of the British province, and
justice demanded this acknowledgment. But instead of aban-
doning the ground, Rhodes saw that restitution might be
made in a way to accord with his aim for the extension of
286 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
British sovereignty, and his cogent appeal persuaded the
Batlapin chief to place all his territorial holdings, covering half
Bechuanaland, under British protection by cession to the Cape
Colony. To his mortification, however, the Colony declined
the offered cession with its contingent obligations. Then
Rhodes appealed to the Home Government, and finally suc-
ceeded in obtaining the establishment of a Protectorate over
Lower Bechuanaland in 1884.
But it was only by the most pressing insistence that this
advance was maintained. The Cape Colony was so stubborn in
its refusal to bear the expense of any new acquisition, and the
Imperial Government was so doubtful and sluggish in grasping
its opportunities, that Rhodes was forced to the conclusion that
the only assurance of the accomplishment of his aims must
come from his own private enterprise, — through the forming of
some great corporation, whose capital and interests might be
engaged in his undertaking for the control and development of
the resources of the vast barbaric interior of Africa. It was
for this cause chiefly that he was so unflaggingly insistent upon
the farthest possible stretch of amalgamation in the control of
the diamond mines, though it must justly be observed that the
thorough amalgamation of conflicting interests in the Fields was
O D O
very highly desirable, if not absolutely essential, for its systematic
development and the marketing of its output. A possible com-
bination, with which Barnato would have rested content, would
have wholly failed to accomplish the end which Rhodes had so
deeply at heart.
In the year 1887, shortly after taking charge of the De
Beers Mining Company, Mr. Rhodes requested me to write to
two of my friends in London, Mr. Hamilton Smith and Mr.
E. G. De Crano, who founded the Exploration Company of
London, and who were intimately connected with the Messrs.
Rothschild, and request them to ask Lord Rothschild if he
would supply the funds for the purchase of the French Com-
pany in the Kimberley mine, provided Rhodes could come
to some agreement with that Company for the purchase of the
THE MOVING MEN
287
property. Before any answer could be received, even by cable,
Rhodes, who had gone from Kimberley to Cape Town to
attend the Session of Parliament, became very impatient about
securing this property, and wired me to join him, and we sailed
from Cape Town on the 6th of July. In my letter to Messrs.
Smith and De Crano I put before them the plan which Rhodes
proposed to carry out, and the object he had in purchasing the
French Company's property, viz., to prevent the amalgamation
of all the interests in that mine, which might be set up as an
independent company in conflict
with the interests of De Beers.
On our arrival in London we
met Lord Rothschild, and Rhodes
discussed the plan with him. In
the meantime, while we were on
the water, Rhodes's scheme had
been presented to the late Mr.
Tite and to Mr. Carl Meyer of
Messrs. N. M. Rothschild &
Sons, who were very favorably im-
pressed with the business, and had
discussed it with Lord Rothschild.
Mr. De Crano had made several
trips to Paris, and had already Mr. Carl Meyer,
paved the way for a conference between Rhodes and the directors
of the " French Company."
At the close of the interview, Lord Rothschild said, " Well,
Mr. Rhodes, you go to Paris and see what you can do in refer-
ence to the purchase of the French Company's property, and in
the meantime I will see if I can raise the ^1,000,000 which you
desire."
On leaving the room Lord Rothschild stopped Mr. De
Crano for a moment, and said to him, "You may tell Mr.
Rhodes that if he can buy the French Company, I think I can
raise the million pounds sterling."
The same evening Rhodes, Mr. De Crano, Mr. Harry
288 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Mosenthal, and myself left for Paris, and after several meetings
with the French Company's directors, we settled upon the terms
for the purchase of their property, which they valued at that time
at about ^ 1,400,000, including all their assets. On returning
to London Mr. Rhodes arranged with Lord Rothschild that he
should furnish him with ^750,000, which would be sufficient for
the time being to complete the arrangements that he had made
with the French Company. In my letter of the i8th of June,
it was mentioned to Messrs. Smith and De Crano that Rhodes
would be willing to issue De Beers shares in payment of the
loan at £i less than the ruling market price of the shares at the
date the money was paid, and would pay Messrs. Rothschild a
handsome commission for transacting the business.
The final arrangement made for the payment of this money
was the issue of 50,000 De Beers Mining Company's shares at
J~i$ per share, and a syndicate was formed to take up these
shares with the able assistance of Mr. Ludwig Lippert, of Ham-
burg. It was agreed between Lord Rothschild and Rhodes
that the profit on the rise of the shares between ^16 and J~zo
during the next three months should be divided between the
purchasing syndicate and the De Beers Company. The shares
rapidly rose, and, before the expiration of the time, had already
reached ^22 per share. The De Beers Company received
;£ 1 00,000 as their portion of the profit on the rise of the shares.
Shortly after the completion of this business Rhodes returned
to the colony and awaited the result of the French Company's
shareholders' meeting to confirm the sale which had been made
to him by the directors of that company. Barnato and others
interested in the Kimberley Central Company, upon hearing of
the transaction that had taken place, determined to use every
effort to prevent the consummation of this sale, and threatened
to offer the shareholders of the French Company at their gen-
eral meeting ^300,000 more than the amount for which the
directors had pledged the company to Rhodes.
As a general of a great army is obliged to have the assistance
and cooperation of competent lieutenants to carry out the plan
THE MOVING MEN
289
of campaign which his superior mind has conceived, so Rhodes
looked about for the strongest and ablest men to join him in
repelling the vigorous attack which was being made against him.
The first check which he gave his opponents seemed at first sight
to be a complete surrender to them. Instead of allowing Bar-
nato and his colleagues to bid against him for the purchase of
the French Company, Rhodes arranged with them that he should
complete the purchase upon the lines agreed upon with the direc-
tors of that company, and promised to unite the interests so pur-
chased with the Kimberley Central Company, in which Mr. Francis
Baring-Gould, who was the chair-
man, Barnato, and others held the
controlling power, taking shares in
the Central Company in payment.
In this, as well as in subsequent
transactions, Rhodes was most ably
assisted by Mr. Alfred Beit, the
Kimberley representative of Jules
Forges & Co., who started business
in Paris as diamond merchants in
1869. The men who from time to
time have been connected with Mr.
Forges and the successors to him,
Messrs. Wernher, Beit & Co., took
the keenest interest in Rhodes's scheme, and assisted him more
than all others in bringing about the consolidation of the dia-
mond interests. As early as 1871 Mr. Julius Wernher went
out to Kimberley in the capacity of diamond buyer for Jules
Forges & Co., and became partner in the firm in 1878. The
firm grew in importance, and became owners in some of the
largest companies in the four mines. They were the founders
of the Griqualand West Diamond Mining Company in Kim-
berley mine, which was afterward re-formed into the " French
Company." Mr. Alfred Beit came to the fields in 1875 as a
diamond buyer for the firm of Lippert & Co., of Hamburg, and
after a few years established himself in business as a diamond
Mr. Alfred Beit, while a Resident of
Kimberley.
290 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
buyer on his own account. In the year 1882 he joined the firm
of Jules Forges & Co., as their representative in South Africa,
and became a partner in the firm in 1886.
In 1889 Mr. Forges retired from the firm, which was re-
formed as Wernher, Beit & Co., Mr. Max Michaelis joining
the firm. Mr. Michaelis came to the Fields in 1878, and went
into partnership with Mr. S. Neumann. He organized the Cape
Diamond Mining Company in Kimberley mine. In 1880 he
entered into an arrangement with Jules Forges & Co. to carry on
his diamond business on joint account with them, which arrange-
ment remained in force until Mr. Forges retired, when he became
a partner in the new firm. Mr. Michaelis assisted in bringing
about the fusion of several of the large claim-holders in the
Kimberley mine, such as Baring-Gould & Atkins, and Baring-
Gould, Price & Tracy, with the Kimberley Central Company.
The great initiative and business capabilities of Mr. Beit
were heartily recognized by Rhodes, and he was very largely
instrumental in building up the diamond-mining industries, and
bringing the dreams of Rhodes into practical shape and on
business lines.
At a special general meeting of the shareholders of the De
Beers Mining Company Limited, held at Kimberley on the 3ist
and con-
respective
of March, 1888, for the purpose of considering
firming an agreement entered into between the
The Diamond Market, Kimberley, 1875. (First Office of Mr. Alfred Beit at the Left.)
THE MOVING MEN 291
Boards for the amalgamation of the De Beers Mining Company
with De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited, Mr. Rhodes gave
his reasons for the necessity of acquiring either the control of the
Kimberley mine or of entering into some arrangement with the
directors of the Central Company, who controlled the mine, by
which the output of both De Beers and Kimberley mines could
be regulated. He saw that by skilful and systematic mining
on the underground system, the output of the mines could be
increased far beyond the world's requirements. It was clear,
too, if these two mines were run in opposition to one another,
it would result in the flooding of the market with diamonds, and
a consequent depreciation of their value, with a fall in market
prices almost ruinous to both companies. He saw that the out-
put of diamond-bearing ground could be made almost unlimited,
and in referring to this he said: "We had to face either an arrange-
ment with the Kimberley Central Company, vor obtain control
of the Kimberley mine. We approached the Kimberley mine
management in every possible way we could conceive. I valued
the De Beers mine higher than they did, but I was willing to
give way in order to obtain control. I was met simply with
smiles and obdurate statements. I was met with the arguments
of the gentleman at ' the corner,' who said the Kimberley mine
was worth three times as much as De Beers. We had to choose
between the ruin of the diamond industry or the control of the
Kimberley mine. We saw this, that you could never deal with
obstinate people until you got the whip hand of them, and that
the only thing we had to do to secure the success of our industry
was to get the control of the Kimberley mine."
As soon as Rhodes had bought the French Company and
amalgamated his interests with the Kimberley Central Company,
he found that the management of that Company was headstrong
in its determination to run the Kimberley mine in rivalry with
De Beers. This was diametrically opposed to his conviction
that monopoly was the essence of success in diamond mining ;
for, as he said, " Our engineers had long ago shown us that, by
underground working, Kimberley and De Beers mines could
292 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
THE MOVING MEN 293
produce far more diamonds than the world would take." By
the purchase of the French Company, De Beers Company held
one-fifth of the capital of the Central Company, and after many
attempts to bring about a friendly union of the two mines,
Rhodes came to the conclusion that the only feasible plan
was to buy a sufficient number of shares in the Central Company
to obtain control. To accomplish this would take at least
^2,000,000 sterling. Fortunately Mr. Alfred Beit, whose com-
mand of capital for such great undertakings was unequalled in
South Africa, stood fast by him in determined cooperation. In
answer to Rhodes's natural question, " Where is the money to
come from ? " Mr. Beit said pithily, " We will get the money
if we can only get the shares."
Then ensued a most keen contest. Mr. Beit and Rhodes be-
gan buying all Central shares that could be secured with apparently
limitless means. Both were leaders in the contest, but Mr. Beit
furnished most of the money. Meanwhile Barney Barnato was
bidding against them with unfailing pluck for the control of the
Company. The price of shares mounted by jumps, but never
too high for Barnato, who was persistent in his claim that the
Kimberley mine was worth two of De Beers. Rhodes's version
of the story of this struggle is that in his purchase of shares he
had the support of the loyal directors and shareholders of his
Company, while his principal opponent was handicapped by the
fact that he was forced to buy out his own largest shareholders.
There is little doubt that Barnato felt this apparent lack of loy-
alty keenly, but he was too strenuous a fighter to concede defeat.
As a matter of fact, he came to terms with his antagonists only
when the price of shares had been bulled to a figure that seemed
out of reason even to his sanguine estimate, while the price of
diamonds had been forced down unprofitably by unobstructed
competition. After many and long conferences, Rhodes made
Barnato one last offer, which he accepted. For his interest in
the Kimberley Central Company he was paid with De Beers
shares at the current rates of shares on the day of the sale. By
this purchase De Beers' holding of Central shares was brought
294 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
up to eleven thousand out of seventeen thousand shares. Under
the trust deed of the Central no amalgamation could be made
unless half the capital was present at a meeting called for the
purpose, and no new resolution could be carried without a two-
thirds majority of those present. The bargain with, Barnato
gave De Beers the control.
So having finally obtained the control of the Kimberley mine
by purchase for ^5,338, 650, Rhodes turned his attention to
what he called the poorer mines, Dutoitspan and Bultfontein.
At a meeting of De Beers shareholders he said he was reminded
of a story he had read about a certain mine, of which it was said
"it was too rich to leave and too poor to pay," and he would
thus describe the mines alluded to. " Nothing," he said, " was
so extraordinary as the way in which the people would hold scrip
from year to year that never pays, but it was always said, * Oh,
next year it will pay,' and so it went on from year to year." He
wished to state " that so far as the amalgamation of the diamond
mines was concerned, it would not help the poorer mines, but
rather the other way. It was generally noticed in mining
matters that following upon one success a number of unsuccess-
ful ventures were floated. And this was why they had secured
these interests in Dutoitspan and Bultfontein mines." He did
not look upon the purchase of properties in these mines as a
good investment, with diamonds at the price they were bringing
at the time of the purchase; but as these two mines were large
factors in the production of diamonds, their yield, even if mined
at a loss, would affect in a very large degree the price which
could be obtained for the product of the richer mines.
Although Dutoitspan mine could not be worked at a profit at
the market price of diamonds, and the mine had already begun
to be troubled with reef falls burying the blue ground below,
still he considered it necessary to get control of the principal
companies in this mine. In Bultfontein mine, where the reef
troubles had already begun, there was still a large portion of the
mine in process of working, and he described it as being " on
the margin of cultivation." If the reef remained standing, and
THE MOVING MEN
295
:^:*:*-."
296 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
the price of diamonds was fair, the mine could be worked at a
small profit.
Rhodes continued the purchase of the properties in both
these mines until the whole of the two mines came into the
possession of the corporation organized as De Beers Consoli-
dated Mines. He showed the shareholders in the various
companies that the fate of the poorer mines lay in his hands,
because he could produce twice the amount of diamonds the
world required from De Beers and Kimberley mines alone.
Even at the low rate of fourteen shillings a carat, he made it
clear that the richer mines could pay to the shareholders divi-
dends which would satisfy them. " The poorer mines, ' on the
margin of cultivation,' would have to accept our offers, or fight
us on two grounds, larger output and lower rates."
In his speech at the annual meeting of the De Beers Min-
ing Company, held at Kimberley on the I2th day of May, 1888,
Rhodes bore tribute cordially to the essential cooperation of
Mr. Beit in his great undertaking.
In moving a vote of thanks to the chairman, his former
antagonist, Barnato, briefly referred to the struggle which was
closed by the purchase of his shares in the Kimberley mine.
He said " no person knew better than he did the labor Mr.
Rhodes had to convert him into the De Beers Mining Company."
He could say that day after day and night after night Mr.
Rhodes was laboring to get him to take De Beers for Centrals.
He gave way when he saw diamonds down to eighteen shillings
a carat, and on those conditions he joined Mr. Rhodes. It is
only just to Barnato to note in closing that he was as loyal in
his later cooperation as he had been persistent in his antagonism.
It is sad to recall how his brilliant and versatile mind gave way
under the enormous strain brought upon him by the various
obligations incurred through his numerous investments and
flotations in the gold fields. His tragic death was a distressful
close to his phenomenal career. On his way to England from
the Cape, in June, 1897, he suddenly sprang overboard and was
drowned.
.8881 SI
DIAMOND >U\t ; • M ,\!-RtCA
diamond* -'d b? worked at a
u properties in both
;i.!ies came into the
DC Beers Consoli-
;• holders in the various
mines lay in his hands,
.mount of diamonds the
Kimberley mines alone.
: ' i ••'• i;iigs a carat, he made it
r»> the shareholders divi-
I he poorer mines, ' on the
? accept our offers, or fight
'•.i Io\\er rates."
•; -rring of the De Beers Min-
'?n the 1 2th day of May, 1888,
Barnato's Turnout on the Occasion of his First Election- to ;thev Cape Pailioi of
ment as Senior Member for Kimberley, November 17, 1888.
- k> to the chairman, his former
• *•. vred to the struggle which was
-hares in the Kimberley mine.
icrter than he did the labor Mr.
!<aci the De Hcers Mining Company."
«!av and night utter night Mr.
» take I)c Beers for Centrals.
• liamn^is down to eighteen shillings
L'i.'i'-d Mv. Rhodes. It is
lie was as loyal in
-rent \'\ his antagonism.
versariie mind gave way
upon him by the various
minv^us investments and
: fr. His tragic 'leach was a distressful
O;i his wav to 1' '.upland from
:ji.'ltnl' sprang overboard and was
CHAPTER X
THE ESSENTIAL COMBINATION
T has been told why and how the conflicting
interests on the Diamond Field were fused in
one dominant organization. The signal ser-
vices of this amalgamation are now too obvious
for dispute. By. the formation of De Beers
Consolidated Mines Limited, it became practi-
cable to design and conduct mining operations systematically
and economically and to regulate the output to the market de-
mand. It was soon apparent, too, that the organization of this
extraordinary joint stock company was the creation of a power
of yet unmeasured service for the development of the resources
of South Africa and the push of civilization through the Dark
Continent.
The only approaches to the far-reaching conception of this
organization must be traced back to the old Dutch and English
East India companies, or the visionary project of John Law,
exploding in air as the Mississippi Bubble. At the outset, on
the 1 2th of March, 1888, a seemingly unpretentious joint stock
company was formed and established at Kimberley with a capital
of £ 1 00,000 sterling, divided into twenty thousand shares of
^"5 each. Authority was granted, however, in the articles of the
association, to the shareholders of the company to increase this
small capital in general meeting, from time to time, for the
acquisition of new property, by creating new shares to any
extent, or, in the exact words of article 39, " such amount as
may be deemed expedient." No provision for expansion and
acquisition could be more liberal, and the particular specifica-
tions of the articles of the association show that " new property,"
297
298 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
in possible range at least, was not confinable to the Diamond
Fields or Cape Colony, or even, perhaps, the scope of the whole
Dark Continent.
It was remarked somewhat caustically at the time, but with
undeniable keenness, that it was much easier to tell what this
amazing Company could do than to determine what it should
not do under its articles of association and trust deed incorpo-
ration under the limited liability laws of the Cape of Good
Hope. It might shift its head office from Kimberley to any
other place on earth. It might " acquire by purchase, amalga-
mation, grant, concession, lease, license, barter, or otherwise any
houses, lands, farms, tracts of country, quarries, mines, mining
or other claims, rights and privileges, water rights, waterworks
or other works, privileges, rights and hereditaments, diamonds
and other precious stones, gold and other minerals, ores, coals,
earth, and any other valuable product or substance, machinery,
plant, utensils, trade marks, patents for invention, licenses to
use any patented invention, and other movable and immovable
property of any description in Africa or elsewhere." Under
this liberal license, the only apparent obstacle to its ownership
of the face of the earth is the declination of other holders to sell
or give it away.
It was further specifically authorized to carry on a mining and
general trading business in any part of the globe, and to con-
struct, maintain, and operate any tramways, railways, roads, tun-
nels, waterworks, canals, gas works, electric works, reservoirs,
water-courses, furnaces, stamping works, smelting works, fac-
tories, and in general, "any other works and conveniences which
the Company may think conducive to any of its objects." It
might also become interested in, promote, and undertake the
formation and establishment of such institutions or companies
(trading, manufacturing, banking, or other) as may be considered
to be conducive to the profit and interest of the Company, and
to carry on any business, in short, " calculated directly or indi-
rectly to render any of the Company's properties or rights for
the time being profitable." There was also provision for the
O A
! HK DIAMOND MINF>. <>F JH AFRICA
ssible range at ! «.•.<•;' -it* ruble to the Diamond
t nis or Cape (<>' •-, the scope of the whole
i -ark Continrnr.
It was !•'.-• • ..ally at the time, but with
undeniable -^h easier to tell what this
Aiiui/ini2 ». r° determine what it should
not du viution and trust deed incorpo-
ratioi ;T> laws of the Cape of Good
Hopt- -i office from Kimberley to any
" acquire by purchase, amalga-
, license, barter, or otherwise any
.»f country, quarries, mines, mining
<>rivi leges, water rights, waterworks
A Group of De Beers Directors and Officials and Prominent South Africans
who attended the Annual Meeting; October 24, 1894^
•'•'•
From Left torft}g$fc,Cf ,tance, machinery,
Dr. R. Harris, Richard Solomon, ,.
W. H. Craven, s l5?J. Ws&frB&P11'
G. W. Compton. ieD*PL.-S. Jam'es^n,immovable
Major Goold Adams, in AfriGccil j. Rhodesere." Under
Gardner F. Williams, apparentHfoN^P11' * ownership
Judge J. G. Lange. Henry Robinow,
* ^ i i LJ the declinatu.) • \.. , holders to sell
Lieutenant Colonel Harris. C. E. Nmd.
My authorized to carry on a mining and
•i any part of the globe, and to con-
;-.ite any tramways, railways, roads, tun-
,r;is works, electric works, reservoirs,
imping works, smelting works, fac-
other works and conveniences which
onducive to anv ot its objects." It
•-,ied in, promote, and undertake the
of such institutions or companies
ri,i:n;;. :ng,or other! as may be considered
IK ojndiu: •« r and interest of the Company, and
; carry on arv busin-.r imrt, "calculated directly or indi-
• nd-jr ativ nf f i-'iipany's properties or rights for
u- p^-ofitab'.t i here was also provision for the
OF \
UNIVERSITY
THE ESSENTIAL COMBINATION 299
possible acquirement of any tract or tracts of country of any size
in Africa or elsewhere, together with any rights that might be
granted by the rulers or owners thereof, and the expenditure of
any sums deemed requisite and advisable in the development
and maintenance of order and good government in such acquisi-
tions.
In view of the enjoyment by the shareholders of such privi-
leges and liberties, it was only natural that the directors of the
Company should not be grudgingly confined. This was, indeed,
the case, and two specifications of powers, in particular, have
proved to be highly serviceable in practice, for there has been
no abuse of discretion. The directors were authorized " to pur-
chase, hire, or otherwise acquire for the Company any share in
any kind of joint stock company, property rights, or privileges
which the Company is authorized to acquire, at such price and
generally on such terms and conditions as they may think fit ;
also to sell, lease, abandon, or otherwise deal with any shares,
property rights, or privileges to which the Company may be
entitled, on such terms and conditions as they may see fit, and to
amalgamate with any other company or companies having objects
altogether or in part similar to the objects of this Company."
They were further empowered " to found, promote, float, and
acquire interest or shares in any companies, undertakings, or in-
stitutions, as they may deem advisable in the interests of the
Company ; also to acquire interests in, promote, aid, or subsidize
any useful industry or undertaking in any country where the
Company may be carrying on business."
At the outset, De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited was
preeminently what is termed a close corporation. Four men
held all but twenty-five shares of its stock. These, in the order
of their subscription to the articles of association, were Alfred
Beit, holding 4439 shares ; Barnett I. Barnato, holding 6658 ;
Cecil J. Rhodes, holding 4439 ; and Frederick S. P. Stow, hold-
ing the same number as Beit and Rhodes. These four, by the
articles, were practically authorized as shareholders to create " five
life governors or permanent directors of the Company, four
300 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
of whom shall be Cecil John Rhodes, Barnett Isaac Barnato,
Frederick Samuel Philipson Stow, and Alfred Beit." If " so
minded," these four had the power by unanimous resolution of
themselves or their survivors to appoint the fifth authorized
" life governor," and to fill any vacancy occurring in their
number by reason of death or otherwise. These four were
further constituted the first directors of the Company, and had
power to appoint other directors, if they so desired, to act in
conjunction with them until the first ordinary general meeting
of the Company, when the shareholders were called upon to de-
termine how many directors there should be besides the life
governors, and to elect " such number as they determine to be
necessary."
From the point of view of ordinary investors in ordinary
stock companies the unlimited sweep of this unique organization
and the powers confided to its controlling directors may be
TH; 301
summed up in on. 1
are indeed " of this
combinar
tion thar
and \
but
atio;
ing a;
freedom of exj
possibl
great, but who vn grw
for the reconciliu
rational developme
fort of the miners, the profit u
of allied industries, Wt>E BEERS GROUP.
The possih' &*»<%£ of ex t Sitting.
From Left to Right.
Thomas Shiels, J. Morrogh,
harmlessn<6. W. Compton, 'd vil to tl H. Mosenthal,
might " gi?-t R- English. . powdF. S. P. Stow,
there t C- E- Atkinson.
corporate ;
il corp<
rap iil was \
man of Rhodes,
the special gene/al meet; he sharc:
Mining Company. The programme
mously endorsed by the shareholdt
it without alteration as the best
solidation of the diamond-mini)
At this general meeting < '
Mining Company was form.
The shareholders of the
£$ shares in I '
fully paid £\o share
DIAMO.si) MINKS OF SOUTH AFRICA
«' \iiom shall be "Rhodes, Harriett Isaac Barnato,
•xdu-ick S.i<nut! J" Stow, and Alfred; Beit." If "so
••.uncicJ," thc:>.- to-.n ;. power 1 unanimous resolution of
-,-.»: "ivors to aj^})oint. the fifth authorized
ID lil! any vacancy occurring in their
• •! Je.itii or otherwise. These four were
: fir.^r directors ot the Company, and had
. :,
s .2 ,-q
c\ sd desired, to act in
r,i;-iai . general meeting
wet • called upon to de-
HiKi ht: besides the life
as the v determine to be
<'•{ ordinary investors in ordinary
•j iii;i;!ii,''.vi s\v<- p of this unique organization
confided to ^s controlling directors may be
THE ESSENTIAL COMBINATION 301
summed up in the familiar outcry of Dominie Sampson. They
are indeed " prodigious," but the phenomenal success of this
combination is a stubborn fact that must be faced in any conten-
tion that its scope and method of conduct were unwarrantable
and unadvisable. Its base of operation was not Lombard Street,
but the heart of South Africa, in a field so unique, in a situ-
ation so perplexing, in unavoidable touch with such far-rang-
ing and conflicting interests, that ordinary limitations, hampering
freedom of expansion and action, would have been crippling and
possibly disastrous handicaps. The powers of the directors are
great, but who can justly deny that they have been greatly used
for the reconciliation of jarring interests, the comprehensive and
rational development of the diamond mines, the safety and com-
fort of the miners, the profit of the shareholders, the promotion
of allied industries, and the general welfare of South Africa ?
The possible range of expansion of the interests of the corpora-
tion is a bugbear to some good people, who would prefer the
harmlessness of the deserted village to the risk that civilization
might " git forrid sometimes upon a powder cart." But what is
there to show, to-day, of the actual stretch and exercise of the
corporate powers beyond the judicious limits of profitable in-
vestment, sagacious development of tributary resources, and dis-
charge of patriotic obligations ?
The expansion of the original corporate foundation was
rapidly pushed. The plan in detail was presented by the chair-
man of the corporation, Mr. Rhodes, on March 31, 1888, at
the special general meeting of the shareholders of the De Beers
Mining Company. The programme thus presented was unani-
mously endorsed by the shareholders of the Company, accepting
it without alteration as the best feasible proposition for the con-
solidation of the diamond-mining interests.
At this general meeting of the shareholders the De Beers
Mining Company was formally merged in the new corporation.
The shareholders of the old Company received two fully paid
£$ shares in De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited for every
fully paid £10 share in the old Company. Having effected
302 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
this acquisition, transferring the whole of De Beers mine, and the
interests of the late De Beers Mining Company in all outside
mining properties, the Consolidated Mines pushed forward stead-
ily their undertaking of a comprehensive consolidation. The
first and most important step was the securing of the whole of
Kimberley mine, the greatest producing factor next to De Beers.
The method by which the property of the Kimberley Central
Diamond Mining Company was finally turned over to the Con-
solidated Mines has been described in the preceding chapter.
In the acquisition of Dutoitspan and Bultfontein mines a
different plan was adopted. These mines, at the time, were not
profitable producing properties, and it was practically certain that
they could not be operated to advantage in view of the output
from the greater and richer mines. For several years each of
these mines had produced diamonds to the value of over half a
million carats annually ; but this production was rapidly declin-
ing, owing to the unresisted falls of reef. Among the assets
taken over from the old De Beers Company were a number of
shares in the Griqualand West Company of Dutoitspan and
in the Bultfontein Consolidated Company. By the influence
secured through this acquisition, it was not difficult to effect
permanent working agreements with De Beers Consolidated
Mines, by which the new corporation attained complete posses-
sion of both mining properties in consideration of the payment
of a fixed annual dividend. During the second year after the
incorporation, the Consolidated Mines purchased the property
of the Anglo-African Mining Company, the Compagnie Generale
(including its interest in the Conivieras mines in the Brazils),
the Sultan Diamond Mining Company, and the United Diamond
Mining Company, representing nearly all the properties of ma-
terial consequence and extent in Dutoitspan mine except the
Gordon Company's holdings. During the same period the
Consolidated Mines bought in the Bultfontein Mining Com-
pany, the Spes Bona Diamond Mining Company, and the South
African Diamond Mining Company, comprising a considerable
part of the properties in the Bultfontein mine.
THE !•>
\TION
THE DIAMOND MINES OK SOUTH AFRICA
•fjss acquisition, transfer ":ng the* whole of DC Beers mine, and the
interests of the lu^c in Beers Mining Company in all outside
Consolidated Mines pushed forward stead-
of a comprehensive consolidation. The
runt step was the securing of the whole of
i: greatest producing tactor next to De Beers.
L the property of the Kimberley Central
i-.mpany was finally turned over to the Con-
bcrn described in the preceding chapter.
,)u '..t Dutoitspan and Bultfontein mines a
These mines, at the time, were not
producing cs, rind ;: was practically certain that
GROUP OF LIFE GOVERNORS. DIRECTORS, GENERAL ^AACER, ^tf
SECRETARY, ' DE BEERS CONSOLI DATED ', MlNE& ^Mlf*
i diamonds to the value or over half a
. productic#!«'was rapidly declin-
From Left to Right
E. Bernheim, Woolf Joef>mong the asset;
W. H. Craven, Seeret*ry\\^ • Ci E. Niwdwere a number of
Gardner F. Williams. &nq*hMA&gW est H. Mosentbal|)urojtspan and
L. Breitmeyer, .r;:Vc;n Consolidated C<,&4' Rhodes' W ^rfurence
Lieutenant Colonel D. Harris. B. I. Barnato, Life Governor,
Francis Oats.
'"G. V. Compton. Consolidated
< -v corporation attained complete posses-
prfip-rties in consideration of the payment
During the second year after the
)iulat:cd "vltnt's purchased the property
u: Mininij Ci.'npany, the Compagnie Generale
• irucrest in the ''u:\icras mines in the Brazils),
* Di.iiTiaiu'i M miner Company, and the United Diamond
: Company, representing nearly all the properties of ma-
•.\{iK*nc arul tent in Dutoitspan mine except the
•-ipanv During tlie same period the
-• bi;',;jlr iii the Bultfontein Mining Com-
- Boi.a Dhinujnd Mining Company, and the South
Mining Company, comprising a considerable
:••'.<•'". ••{ the ;>mprities in fhe Bultfontein mine.
THE ESSENTIAL COMBINATION
303
304 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
The actual cost of the properties thus acquired by the Con-
solidated Mines was approximately ^14,500,000. There would
have been no difficulty in expanding the capital of the corpora-
tion by the issuing of shares to an amount sufficient to cover
this immense acquisition, but a more conservative course was
adopted. It was decided not to increase the capital of the cor-
poration beyond ^£3, 950,000. The purchases in excess of this
issue were provided for by the issue of debentures. The adop-
tion of this plan necessitated a provision for covering very heavy
fixed charges in the early years of the operations of the Consoli-
dated Mines ; but this obligation was undertaken with confidence
in view of the assurance of the control of the diamond market,
brought about through the consolidation, and the actual return
in the rapidly increasing output of the mines with systematic
and scientific development.
During the financial year following the completion of con-
solidation, De Beers produced 2,195,112 carats of diamonds.
This product, including the proceeds of diamonds from debris
washing, realized in the market ^"3,287,728. In that year the
total weight of diamonds produced by all the mines in the
Kimberley division was 2,415,655 carats. Thus approximately
ninety per cent of the total production was then furnished by the
Consolidated Mines. The net profit of the operations for the
year exceeded £ i ,000,000 sterling, and two half-yearly dividends
of ten per cent each were paid to the shareholders. The actual
cost of winning over 2,000,000 carats of diamonds, including
all expenses at the mines and office charges, was a little over a
million sterling, or roughly los. per carat. The difference
between the estimated net profit and the costs of operation
was expended in the payment of interest on debentures and
obligations and in provision for their redemption, and in the set-
ting aside of an exceedingly liberal provision of over ^500,000
as an offset for depreciation of plant, etc.
The directors of the De Beers Consolidated Mines could
point with high satisfaction to this profitable showing in contrast
with the records of disastrous competition and conflicting mine
THE ESSENTIAL COMBINATION 305
operations. No exact statistics are obtainable of the production
in the early years, when no official returns from the mines were
made. The late Barney Barnato, who made a special study of
the probable rate of production, estimated the product from
1873 to 1880 as ranging annually from a million to a million
and a half carats. After 1880 there was a considerable increase,
and in 1883, when official returns were first rendered, the quan-
tity of diamonds produced was 2,319,234 carats. The average
value of this product was reckoned at 2os. \\d. giving a total
of ^2,359,466. In 1884 the product was 2,264,786 carats,
valued at ^2,562,623, showing an average of 23 j. i^d. per
carat. This was the top notch in market value, for in the
following year, 1885, the diamonds produced amounted to
2,287,261 carats, with an average value of only 19^. ^d. per
carat. In 1886 the production reached the high total of
3,047, 63 9|- carats, but the demand increased in proportion, so
that the average selling price was fully is. higher per carat than
during the previous year. In 1887 and 1888, through the
increased facilities for production in De Beers and Kimberley
mines, the total output rose to 3,646,889 carats, and 35565,780!
carats successively. The average price during these two years
ranged from iis. 6d. per carat to iis. \\d. but the market was
flooded, and prices were falling perilously close to the cost of
production even in the richer mines. There was no assurance
of any far-sighted regulation of the output and market prices,
and, lacking this, diamond mining properties were commonly
reckoned as little better than gambling ventures. It has been
clearly shown how this disastrous condition was at once changed
to stable assurance and prosperity by the control of the new
organization.
To the shareholders in the mines, after this reorganization
was effected, the returns were unprecedented. This profit was
largely due to the complete control of production, systematic
operation, and regulation of the output ; but the comparative
showing was also greatly enhanced by the shrewdness of the
financiering in the organization, and the withdrawal of inflation
306 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
from the stocks of the various mining properties included in the
new incorporation and its leased holdings. The capital of De
Beers Mines before consolidation was £"2,009,000. The capital
of the Central Company was £1,779,650. De Beers stock at
the time of consolidation was selling at £40 a share, represent-
ing a capital of £8,036,000. The stock of the Central Com-
pany, controlling the Kimberley mine,
was selling at £50 for each £10 share,
making a total valuation of £8,898,250
for the mine. At this market estimate
the valuation of the two great mines was
£17,934,250. The capital of the Du-
toitspan was approximately £3,500,000,
and of Bultfontein, £2,000,000 nomi-
nally, making a gross valuation for the
four mines of £23,434,250. By consoli-
Mr. E. R. Tymms, Secretary of dation the capital stock was compressed to
the London Board, De Beers /•> grO,OOO, and almost absolute Control
Consolidated Mines Ltd. f*»*J>7J ^ f
of the mining in all four of these great
properties was secured at an annual charge of about £320,000 for
interest on debentures and for leases of two companies, one in
Dutoitspan mine and one in Bultfontein mine. The business
of the Company grew so rapidly that it was necessary to establish
transfer as well as general business offices in London.
In the year 1901 the Company's shares, which had increased
in value to more than £40 for a £$ share, were split up as fol-
lows : The capital was increased from ^£3, 9 50,000 to ^£4,500,000.
The shares were divided into two classes, 800,000 preference
shares of £"2 los. each, which will have a fixed cumulative divi-
dend at the rate of forty per cent per annum before the deferred
shares participate, and 1,000,000 deferred shares of £"2 IQJ. It
will be remembered that in the formation of the De Beers
Consolidated Mines Limited, provision was made for five Life
Governors, who were to receive twenty-five per cent of the
profits of the Company after an annual dividend of thirty-six
per cent had been paid. When the reconstruction took place
the Company purchased the interests of the Life Governors
and gave in payment 160,000 deferred shares.
CHAPTER XI
SYSTEMATIC MINING
UST acknowledgment has been made in a former
chapter of the essential service rendered to the
diamond mine owners by the device of Mr.
Edward Jones for underground work beneath
the fallen reef covering the bottom of the open
pits. This was, however, confessedly only a
temporary makeshift, enabling the claim-holders to defray the
heavy costs of sinking shafts through the hard rock outside the
craters, and pursuing some systematic plan for the extraction of
the diamond-bearing breccia by underground workings. Deep-
shaft sinking was undertaken with renewed heart by several
companies owning claims in Kimberley and De Beers mines,
but for some years there was an obvious lack of essential
cooperation and unity of method. Eight shafts were sunk, or
were under way, in 1885, within and without the craters, for
opening De Beers and Kimberley mines, and through these
shafts the blue ground was extracted by four different methods
of stoping, none of which was satisfactory. The system insti-
tuted by the Central Company, the largest operator in Kim-
berley mine, illustrates sufficiently the inherent defects in all.
Here galleries fifteen feet wide were driven to the right and
left of a main tunnel, with pillars fifteen feet thick between
them. Passages or winzes for broken ground were sunk
at short intervals to a tunnel below. The ground was stoped to
the height of fifteen feet above the main tunnel, and then below
it until the stope reached the next level. The passes became
filled frequently with large pieces of ground, and had to be
cleared. Under this system the mine was assuming the shape
307
3o8 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
of a section of a gigantic honeycomb cut in two longitudinally,
the spaces for the honey representing the worked-out part of the
mine, and the comb, the support for the superincumbent mass
of debris. After a short period of working, the pillars began to
show signs of crushing, and the mine was considered too danger-
ous to allow the men to remain in it. They were withdrawn
just in time to prevent a disaster, for the whole underground
The Last of Open Mining, Kimberley Mine.
works collapsed shortly after the last man had left the mine.
Fortunately no one was killed. The mine had to be reopened
from top to bottom, for every underground excavation was filled
up at the close of the year 1888.
The errors in engineering were further accentuated, during
the early stages of underground mining, by the jealous bickering
of rival owners, which was constantly impeding the progress of
the workings, and it was seemingly impracticable to agree upon
any plan securing concert of operation and expert opening of the
SYSTEMATIC MINING
3°9
PLAN OF DE BEERS MINE
TOO FEET LEVEL
SYSTEM OF WORKING 1887
THE SQUARES REPRESENT CLAIMS
31 FT* BY 31 FT.
X \
ROCK SHAFT
B
PLAN OF DE BEERS MINE.
800 FT. LEVEL
SYSTEM OF WORKING. 1888
310 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
mines. At the end of the year 1885, although the need of
amalgamation of claims was obvious and imperative, there were
still, as has been noted, ninety-eight separate holdings in the
four mines. Prior to the consolidation of the holdings in De
Beers and Kimberley mines, the underground workings were
prosecuted with the general design of withstanding pressure and
sliding of the reef by leaving sufficient solid blue ground, in the
form of " floors " or " roofs," between the series of levels, sup-
ported by buttresses and pillars of blue ground. Costly experi-
ence by frequent collapses of the roofs and crushing of the pillars
SECTION THROUGH DE BEERS MINE LOOKING NORTH
proved that the levels were too near one another, and that gal-
leries driven full size from the offsets were difficult to maintain
and unsafe for the workmen.
The heavy expense of sinking vertical shafts and driving
tunnels through the hard rock surrounding the mine had led to
the adoption of inclined shafts in order to reach the blue ground
more quickly ; but, for several reasons, these inclines were not
adapted for the prosecution of deep underground works. The
chief defects may be briefly summarized. They were difficult
to maintain, as they were sunk obliquely through the horizontal
strata of the shale, which frequently gave way and crushed the
shaft timbers. Secondly, being inclined to the horizon (De
Beers 56°, and Kimberley Standard Shaft 32°) and situated not
far from the margins of the mines, they soon reached blue ground,
SYSTEMATIC MINING
311
E o
O 2
5 i
3i2 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
and were continued down in this breccia, which must sooner or
later be mined. Some of these shafts, as at De Beers, had a
uniform slope from top to bottom, while others, as at Kimberley
mine, changed to a steeper slope in depth and in one case to
a vertical shaft. De Beers No. 2 worked well to the depth of
800 feet, and the Standard shaft, Kimberley mine, was fairly
serviceable to the depth of 845 feet. The shafts were not sunk
with the view of putting in proper pumps, and when steam was
taken into the mines through them, for pumping purposes, the
OUR
PLAN OF KIMBERLEY MINE
1000 FT. LEVEL
FRENCH SHAFT
natives had to pass up and down the same shafts by means of
ladders. As all the inclined shafts were upcasts, the heat was
insufferable.
When I took charge of De Beers mine, in the year 1887, it
was worked under what was then known as the Gouldie system,
which had been copied from the hematite mines of Cumberland,
and first introduced in the Kimberley mine by Mr. Joseph
Gouldie, then manager for W. A. Hall, and afterwards mine
manager of De Beers Mining Company. At De Beers mine an
inclined shaft had been sunk to the 5OO-foot level, with inter-
mediate levels 30 feet apart between the 38o-foot and 5OO-foot
levels.
O £
C/3 n
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W iv U : NW '• ' 1- •'••! - ' - • ' '"W I ^ / ' -- *•'' '
lilP»tia*i!
SYSTEMATIC MINING
3*3
SECTION OF KIMBERLEY MINE
LOOKING NORTH
100100 100 900 >00 400 BOO 600 FT.
SECTION OF KIMBERLEY MINE
LOOKING EAST
100500 100 200 900 400 500 FT.
/
3H THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
The plans on other pages illustrate the manner in which
the various levels were laid off. Tunnels were driven across the
crater at De Beers mine from west to east, about 120 feet apart,
and galleries 18 feet wide and 18 feet high were opened every 36
feet along the main tunnels, and were worked up to within 12
feet of the loose ground in the top levels. Pillars of solid blue
ground 18 feet thick were left between the galleries, but later
on first the roof and then the pillars were taken out.
This method of mining was fairly successful for a time ;
but, as already stated, as depth was attained, the roofs of the
galleries or rooms became unsafe before the galleries were
opened through to those on the next level above, and they fre-
quently gave way, thus making the extraction of the blue ground
exceedingly difficult. This system was both expensive and
dangerous. No timber was used except in the main tunnels or
drifts, the nature of the blue ground being such that the roofs
and sides of the excavations stood fairly well for a short time,
provided they were well ventilated.
In other parts of De Beers mine various companies were
working or trying to work underground ; but as no regular sys-
tem of mining could be carried on owing to the irregular shape
of their holdings, and the more or less temporary methods
adopted, it was clearly impracticable to devise and carry into
effect any comprehensive system of operation for the rapid and
economical handling of the diamond-bearing breccia in the
craters, until the union of all the claims through the formation
of one controlling company permitted the installation of a single
uniform system of mining.
It has already been narrated how this was effected for
De Beers mine during the year 1887, by the combination of all
the holdings in the mine into one company, and the organiza-
tion of De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited, in March, 1888.
Kimberley mine came formally into the possession of this great
corporation on the ist of June, 1889, and controlling interests
in the other two mines, Dutoitspan and Bultfontein, were also
secured. The assured control of all the mines and their opera-
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SYSTEMATIC MINING 315
tion by De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited enabled its
directors to institute and conduct successfully a single broadly
comprehensive plan for extracting the diamond-bearing rock
and for disposing to the best advantage the total product of
their mines.
This system of mining was devised and applied by me
shortly after my appointment as general manager of the
De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited, and was based essen-
tially on a method suggested by the miners themselves and
without reference to any other system. Instead of attempting
to withstand, even for a time, the pressure of the superincum-
bent mass of broken reef, the new system contemplated the
caving in and filling of the excavations, after the precious blue
ground had been extracted.
In order to make the output of diamond-bearing ground as
great as possible, the levels in De Beers mine were at first
opened up in the new system according to the following plan : —
When the numerous small tunnels had been driven to the
margin of the mine, i.e. to the point where they reached the sides
of the crater, the blue ground was stoped on both sides of and
above each tunnel until a chamber was formed extending along
the face of the rock for 100 or more feet, with an average width
of about 20 feet, and about 20 feet high. The roof of the cham-
ber or gallery was then blasted down or allowed to break down
by the pressure of the overlying mass of broken diamond-bear-
ing ground or debris. I mention diamond-bearing ground here,
for in the early stages of underground mining there was an
enormous amount of this ground which had been left behind
when open mining was discontinued, and had been crushed
either by the moving sides of the immense opening or by the
collapse of the underground pillars when mined by the old sys-
tem. It happened frequently, after breaking through to the
loose ground above, that clean diamond-bearing ground would
run down as fast as it was removed for weeks or months at a
time. The galleries would at times become blocked with large
pieces of blue ground, which had to be blasted, and then a
3i6 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
further run of blue ground would follow. When the blue
ground was worked back toward the centre of the crater, larger
boulders or fragments of basalt, which had come down through
the loose reef from the surface, would be met with. This sys-
tem of working would be continued until reef alone came
down, the waste or reef removed being sent to the surface by
itself and dumped on the reef tips ; it formed, however, only an
inconsiderable proportion (one to four per cent) of the total
output. It will be remembered that, when the roof caved in,
the gallery was nearly full of blue ground. By the work which
followed, only a part of this ground was removed by the men
working on that level, the miners preferring to take it out on the
next level below. This process of mining was repeated from
level to level until finally there was no more loose ground to be
recovered. The cost of extracting blue ground while loose
ground existed was very low.
PLAN OF DE BEERS MINE
800 FT, LEVEL
SYSTEM OF WORKING. 1 890
VICTORIA SHAFT
CONTOUR '
Now all this has changed, and the plan of opening up new
levels has altered somewhat, but the system remains the same.
By referring to the plan, given above, it will be seen that the
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SYSTEMATIC MINING 317
levels were opened around the east end of the mine. When the
underground works had reached the depth of 800 feet or more,
a new danger appeared. It will be borne in mind that the huge
open mines are filled with debris from the sides, caused by the
removal of the diamond-bearing ground by open quarrying to
depths varying from 200 to 500 feet. As the supports were
removed, the sides caved and filled the open mine. This debris
was composed of the surface red soil, decomposed basalt, and
friable shale, which extended from the surface down to a depth
of about 300 feet. In addition to the debris from the surround-
ing rocks there were huge masses of "floating shale," resembling
indurated blue clay more than shale. Large heaps of yellow
ground and tailings, which the early diggers deposited near the
margin of the mines, and west-end yellow ground contributed
to the mud-making material. The black shale which surrounds
the mines disintegrates rapidly when it falls into them. It con-
tains a small percentage of carbonaceous matter, and a large
amount of iron pyrites. When the huge masses of shale fell
into the open mine, they frequently ignited, either by friction or,
more probably, by spontaneous combustion, as they have been
known to do on the reef tips, and burned for months and
even for years at a time. These masses of burned shale become
soft clay and form a part of the mixture which fills the open
crater. This debris moves down as the blue ground is mined
from underneath it, and becomes mixed with the water which
flows into the open mine from the surrounding rock and with
storm water, and forms mud. This overlying mud became a
menace and danger to the men working in the levels below.
Frequent mud rushes occurred suddenly, without the least warn-
ing, and filled up hundreds of feet of tunnels in a few minutes,
the workmen being sometimes caught in the moving mass. It
became evident that the method of working shown on the plan
was dangerous in case a mud rush took place, the men being
sometimes either shut in or buried in the mud coming from
the opposite side of the mine. It was decided, therefore, to work
the mines from one side only, and to have the offsets to the
318 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
rock connected one with the other at as few points as would still
allow the ventilation of the working faces. The plan illustrated
ROCK SHAIT
PLAN OF DE BEERS MINE
10OOFEET LEVEL
in the above figure shows the method which was then adopted
and is still in use. Kimberley mine is worked on about the
same general system.
SYSTEMATIC MINING
The method of laying out the workings is also here shown.
Main tunnels are driven across the crater upon its longer axis,
and, at right angles from these, small tunnels are driven out
every 30 feet until they reach the hard rock on the south side of
the mine. These tunnels are widened, first along the rock until
they connect one with another, and, at the same time, the roofs,
or " backs," are stoped up until they are within a few feet of the
SKETCH SHOWING METHOD OF STOPING
MAIN TUNNEL
PLAN IV
SECTION I
SECTION II
SECTION III
SECTION IV
320 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
loose ground
above, thus
forming long
galleries, filled
more or less with
blue ground,
upon which the
men stand when drilling holes in the backs. The working levels
were at first 30 feet apart vertically, but, for greater economy,
Method of Sloping, Vertical Section.
SYSTEMATIC MINING
321
the distance was soon changed to 40 feet. The broken blue
ground lying in the galleries is taken out, as a rule, before there
are any signs of the roof giving way. At times this is impos-
sible, and the roofs cave upon the broken ground, and the blue
ground is covered with reef. As the roofs cave or are blasted
down, the blue ground is removed, and the loose reef lying above
it comes down and fills the gallery. Tunnels are often driven
Timbering Tunnels.
through this loose reef, and the blue ground, which has been cut
off and buried by debris, is taken out ; but it is sometimes left
for those working the next level below to extract.
After the first " cut " near the rock is worked out, another
cut is made, and in this manner the various levels are worked
back, the upper level in advance of the one below, forming ter-
races as shown in section on page 320. In De Beers mine there
are now eleven levels on which work is progressing, commencing
at the depth of 1280 feet and extending down to the i72O-foot
322 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Timbered Tunnels at the looo-foot Level, Kimberley Mine.
level. At Kimberley mine nine levels are being worked, from
the i84O-foot to the 2i6o-foot level inclusive. The galleries are
not supported in any way by timbers, but all tunnels in soft blue
ground are timbered
with sets of two props
and a cap of round
timber, and are cov-
ered with inch and a
half lagging.
Soft blue ground
is drilled with long
jumper drills sharp-
ened at both ends.
In hard blue ground,
drills and single-hand
Natives drilling, De Beers Mine.
hammers are
The native workers become very skilful in both methods of
drilling, and do quite as much work as white men would do
under similar conditions.
SYSTEMATIC MINING
Shafts
323
The grand winding shafts and plant by which the enormous
output of diamond-bearing ground is brought to the surface are
illustrated in accompanying figures. The present working shafts
are all vertical. De Beers rock shaft was the first large vertical
shaft of any importance, from the present mining point of view,
which was sunk in any of the mines. It is 20 feet by 6 feet in
size inside timbers, and contains four compartments, two for
skips lifting blue ground, one for a cage for taking men and
material up and down, and one for pumps and ladderway. A
Detail of Sets for Rock Shaft.
balance weight for the cage runs in the pump compartment,
which is also the downcast shaft through which the whole mine
is ventilated.
No. i is the upcast shaft. It has two compartments for
skips, two for cages, one for pipes, etc., and a double ladderway.
At Kimberley mine the rock shaft is a duplicate of De Beers
rock shaft, except that the pump compartment is larger.
At De Beers, tunnels 1 1 feet wide by 8 feet high have been
driven from the rock shaft at the 800, 1000, 1200, 1400, and
iy2O-foot levels, and from No. i shaft at the 380, 800, and
i4OO-foot levels.
324 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
At Kimberley mine the rock shaft is connected by similar
tunnels with the mine on the 1000, 1200, 1520, 1840, and 2160-
foot levels. The present depths (1904) of De Beers shafts are
2076 feet and 1579 feet respectively, and of Kimberley rock
shaft 2539 feet.
Trucks holding 16 cubic feet transport the blue ground in
the mines from the loading places to the main chutes or passes,
and from these to the shaft. The trucks are hauled by an
A Shaft Station.
endless chain which rests upon V-shaped clips fastened to the
trucks, the motive power being supplied by engines driven by
compressed air, carried through pipes from the surface.1 At the
shaft there is a large station cut out of the solid rock, some 30
feet wide, and extending back toward the mine for a distance of
70 feet to the point where the tunnel (8 by 1 1 feet) commences.
There is an extension on one end of the shaft for a small cage-
way to bring up any ground that may spill over the skips while
being loaded. This prevents delays in the skip hoisting. The
shaft is also lengthened for a few feet at the pump end, where a
set of pumps is put in.
1 See Appendix I.
SYSTEMATIC MINING
325
Loading the Trucks.
As one descends the shaft in the cage in pitch darkness and
suddenly comes to a large opening brightly lighted with numer-
ous electric lamps, the scene is weird and confusing. A score of
natives, half dressed, each vying with the other in shouting his
own comments upon the visitors as they come forth from the
cage ; the whirl of heavy iron trucks as they go to and fro ; the
banging of the tippers as they turn over and deposit the contents
of the enclosed truck into a chute below, — all present a picture
unique in itself and only to be seen in passing through the shafts
at De Beers and Kimberley mines. Those who have travelled
through the native centres, or have seen the negroes loitering
about the towns, and have thought them lazy, indolent, beer-
drinking beings, should visit the diamond mines, and especially
the scene upon the "flat sheet" as described above, and they
will \get a new impression of the working capacity of these
despised black men. The natives working in the diamond
mines, if they are old hands in the service, are uniformly active
and industrious men, while natives fresh from the kraals are soon
taught their duties, which they learn to perform with nearly as
much skill as most European miners.
SYSTEMATIC MINING
327
•iOO
•-jOO
10©
"J{ RIVETS
5-2-Vz »
^- VJ RIVETS
COUNTERSUNK
FRONT VIEW
INVERTED PLAN
PLAN OF SKIP FOR SIX LOADS.
OF THE
UNIVERSITY
OF
328 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Main Shaft, Kimberley Mine.
No more rapid handling and extraction of the blue ground
seems possible than is effected by the aid of these alert workers
and the perfected mechanical devices. As soon as the loaded
trucks reach the shaft, they are tipped into loading chutes hold-
ing six truck-loads (96 cubic feet). As the skip reaches the
bottom a door is opened, and the contents of the chute run into
the skip and are hoisted to the surface. Experience has shown
that the best results are obtained by sending up loaded skips
from one level at a time. The simple and efficient device early
adopted in the mines for tipping the loads from the trucks into
the skip at No. 2 incline of De Beers consisted of an iron
chute. Four end-tipping trucks were placed close against the
edge of the chute and the catches loosened. As soon as an
empty skip was lowered past the chute the trucks were tipped
and the loads ran into the chutes so rapidly that the engine-
driver frequently received a signal to hoist before his engine had
been stopped. The skip in this incline held 64 cubic feet, or
four truck loads weighing 1600 Ibs. each.
SYSTEMATIC MINING
329
The time of the journey through the shaft now varies only
a little with depth, being from thirty-five to forty seconds from
the 1 200 or i52o-foot levels. On reaching the surface, the blue
ground is tipped automatically from the skips into loading boxes.
The "self-dumping" skips in present use were introduced by
me in 1888, and were made from drawings supplied by the Union
Iron Works of San Francisco, and are similar to the skips used
in the mining districts of the Pacific Coast. (On page 327
are shown the plans for
the skip and the manner
of tipping into the surface
chutes.) From these chutes
the blue ground is loaded
into side -tipping trucks
holding 20 cubic feet each.
The average weight of the
blue ground in a surface
truck is 2000 pounds. The
trucks used underground
hold 1 6 cubic feet, and are
end-tipping in the inter-
mediate levels where the
ground is dumped into
passes, but have solid ends
on the main levels where
revolving tippers are used. The Rock Shaft> De Beers Mine-
From the depositing surface boxes at the winding shafts, the
ground is taken by means of an endless wire rope haulage to the
" floors," where it is treated as described in another chapter.
Record Hoisting
With alert and orderly handling of the blue ground in the
mines, the rapidity of extraction has advanced to extraordinary
record points. During the month of July, 1889, 142,567
loads were hoisted through a single shaft in No. 2 incline,
De Beers mine. The best day's work of 24 hours was 6222
330 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
loads of 1 6 cubic feet, or 4977 short tons. For an hour at
a time hoisting was carried on at this shaft at the rate of five
skip-loads every three minutes, or 400 truck-loads an hour,
lifted from the 7OO-foot level,
a distance of 840 feet through
the inclined shaft. The total
amount of blue ground
hoisted during the fiscal year
from April i, 1889, to March
31, 1890, was 1,355,089
loads, aggregating 1,084,071
tons of 2000 pounds. This
remarkable record was made
under unfavorable condi-
tions, because the hoisting en-
gine was small, nominally of
70 horse-power, and not de-
VERTICAl. TANDEM COMPOUND CONDENSING WINWNO ENGINES signed foT SUCh TapJd SCTvicC.
With the construction of new shafts and the setting up of
engines and fittings of the
best and latest designs, the
efficiency of operation was
greatly increased. Two types
of winding engines have been
erected, and it is interesting
to follow the changes which
have been made in this por-
tion of the plant. The first
large engine erected by the
De Beers Company was the
one at De Beers rock shaft.
Its cylinders were 24 inches
in diameter, with a stroke of
5 feet. It had two drums,
each 4 feet 4^ inches in width
and 10 feet 6 inches in diam-
VERTICAU TANDEM COMPOUND CONDENSING WINDING ENGINES
SYSTEMATIC MINING
VERTICAL TANDEM COMPOUND CONDENSING WINDING ENGINES
eter, with a grooved tread to prevent friction
on the rope. This engine was built by well-
known makers of winding engines, whose
works are too near the cheap coal centres
of England. The engine was what is
called in America a " sawmill engine."
In the timber districts of America, the
boilers are fired with slabs cut from the
round logs in squaring them. Enor-
mous quantities of these slabs accu-
mulate about the mills, where they
must be consumed in some way, or
carted away at a considerable ex-
pense. To get rid of the slabs,
engines that consume the
greatest amount of steam
are those most sought after.
In South Africa, on the contrary, the extraordinary consumption
of steam was a heavy drawback. Welsh steam coal then cost
j£8 los. ($41.25) per ton of 2000 pounds, delivered at Kim-
berley, so this "sawmill" engine was converted from two high-
pressure cylinders to a cross compound, with cylinders of 26
inches and 40 inches diameter, and the consumption of fuel
dropped more than 30 per cent. After several years of con-
stant service, the engine was stopped June n, 1896, the old
drum and crank shaft, weighing 32 tons, were taken out bodily,
and a new set, weighing 40 tons, substituted and made ready
for service in less than 48 hours. With this new outfit there
was soon a series of record-breaking performances, which are
given below.
At the Kimberley mine, the main or rock shaft was started
on the north side of the mine in March, 1889. In the first year
this shaft was sunk to the depth of 699 feet, and, in the following
year, it was pushed to the depth of nearly 1300 feet. The driv-
ing of the tunnel to the mine from this shaft on the looo-foot
level showed how exactly vertical was the wall of the crater,
332 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Winding Engine, Kimberley Mine.
for the tunnel, at this depth, entered the blue ground 1134 feet
from the shaft, corresponding almost precisely to the distance
from the mouth of the shaft to the edge of the melaphyre at the
depth of 300 feet. For hoisting
service at this shaft, a winding-en-
gine plant was especially designed
by the late Mr. Louis I. Seymour,
mechanical engineer for De Beers
Consolidated Mines Limited, and
constructed by James Simpson &
Co., of London, England. This
plant consisted of a pair of vertical
tandem compound engines driving
two reels. These engines were de-
signed to hoist six truck-loads in
one skip, from the looo-foot level,
in 45 seconds, including filling,
Mr. Louis i. Seymour. starting, stopping, and discharging;
SYSTEMATIC MINING
333
but in practice they pulled up the skip carrying this load
from the looo-foot level in from 30 to 35 seconds. Flat ropes
were used, at first, on the reels, but when the shaft was sunk
some hundreds of feet deeper, round ropes were substituted by
the adoption of the "Whiting system," first used by Mr. S. B.
Whiting, general manager of the Calumet and Hecla Copper
Company of Michigan. The dimensions and description of the
engines are given in Appendix II.
)>E-BEERS CONSOLIDATED MINES LTD.
PLAN OF 600 FT. LEVEL
BULTFONTEIN MINE
The only excuse I can offer for having adopted flat ropes
for winding is that I was persuaded to do so against my own
judgment by a number of American engineers, and experience
proved that I erred in so doing. Leaving all other disadvan-
tages aside, and they are many, the extra cost of ropes per load
is sufficient to condemn the flat rope. The average cost per load
for flat ropes was .6 of a penny against .076 of a penny with the
334 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
present Whiting system, the saving amounting to more than
^£2000 per annum. This system as modified in the diamond
mines is as follows : The round winding rope, made of the best
plough steel, extends from the skip over the sheave on the pit-
head frame down to the reel on the crank shaft of the engine,
thence four times around this reel and a corresponding reel on a
lay shaft (centres of shafts being 12 feet apart) ; thence the rope
passes around an idler sheave, the shaft of which runs on bear-
ings set upon a movable frame, which is attached at each end to
a carriage by means of trunnions. The carriage in this case
runs upon a track 50 feet long. From the idler or tension
sheave the rope passes around a second reel which is loose
upon the crank shaft, the centre of which is in line with the
second sheave upon the pit-head frame.
By the completion of the new plant the output of blue
ground from the Kimberley mine was greatly increased. Dur-
ing the fiscal year ending June 30, 1893, 1,453,152 loads were
taken from the mine as against 1,310,994 loads, the output
for fifteen months previous, an increase almost wholly due to
the new hoisting facilities, for fully three-fourths of the yield
was drawn through the main shaft. The product of De Beers
mine for the same year was still greater. The total quantity
hoisted was 1,637,031 loads, of which 1,403,060 loads were
drawn through the main or rock shaft, and only 233,971 loads
through the No. 2 or west end incline shaft.
Drainage
Thorough drainage is of manifest importance in the opera-
tion of any mine, but it is peculiarly essential in these diamond
mines. At the commencement of underground mining the
inflowing water was removed by steam pumps. The use of
such pumps was an error, for the resultant heat and moisture
caused the blue ground to crumble, and made the ladderways
so hot that they were at times impassable.
As soon as the vertical shafts were completed at De Beers
SYSTEMATIC MINING 335
and Kimberley mines, Cornish pumping plants were put in, by
means of which all the water is now pumped from the mines.
The average quantity of water taken from De Beers mine is
435° gall°ns an hour, and from Kimberley, 8385 gallons.
Nearly half of the latter influx comes from a crevice at the junc-
tion of the quartzite with an intrusive dike of igneous rock
which was struck while driving the i2OO-foot tunnel at a dis-
tance of 600 feet from the mine. While no water is found in
the blue ground or mine itself, that which flows into the mine
from the surrounding rock mixes, as before described, with the
debris which has fallen into the worked-out portion of the
De Beers and Kimberley mines, and makes mud. Enormous
quantities of this mixture are from time to time forced suddenly
into the working parts of the mine, which are connected by tun-
nels with the loose debris. At times hundreds of feet of tunnels
were filled in a few minutes. Mud rushes became so frequent
that the working of the mines was seriously interfered with, and
the loss of life was very great.
At Kimberley mine, large springs of water flowed into
the open works at the junction of the melaphyre with the
shale. Only a small part of the melaphyre was then exposed
to view, and the position of the other part was unknown.
A tunnel was started from the Standard shaft, and driven to
the south around the mine. Another tunnel was started from
the Harvey shaft and driven to the west end around the mine
in the opposite direction until the two tunnels met. The
total length was 2097 feet. Through these tunnels all the
surface water and all water coming into the mine above the
melaphyre was taken up and led to the pumps by means of
pipes. All water which enters the mine in the deeper work-
ings is taken down in passes, sunk in the rock outside of the
mine. By these precautions mud rushes have been completely
stopped in Kimberley mine, and none have occurred for many
years past.
De Beers mine has not been so fortunate, and mud rushes
are of frequent occurrence, although the quantity of water in
336 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
this mine is only about one-half that of the Kimberley mine.
The following work is being done with the view of preventing
them. A tunnel is being driven around the mine at the hard
rock (melaphyre) level, about 380 feet from the surface, in
order to take up the water which flows into the open mine
below the shale. Tunnels are also being driven on the 1000-
foot level on the south and east sides of the mine, which will be
continued until they meet. Diamond drills are at work making
holes between levels, with the view of tapping the water.
Everything feasible will be done to free De Beers mine from the
plague of water as perfectly as it has been done at Kimberley
mine. The problems are not the same, however, for in Kim-
berley mine the debris had followed down as the blue ground
was extracted, and had left the hard rock more or less exposed
to view, and one could see in places where the streams of water
flowed into the open mine ; but in De Beers no hard rock has
been exposed until lately, and one must grope in the dark, as it
were, to find out where the water enters the open or worked-out
portions of the mine.
The pumping plants for freeing the mines from water have
kept pace fully with the advance in the hoisting plants. For
the service of De Beers mine, a new pumping engine was
erected at the rock shaft in 1889. This is a compound sur-
face-condensing engine made by James Simpson & Company,
of London. Its high-pressure cylinder is 14^- inches diam-
eter, and its low pressure, 21 inches, with a stroke of 30 inches,
It is capable of developing 1 20 horse-power. With this engine an
average of nearly 6000 gallons an hour was readily drained from
the mine from the start, and no difficulty was experienced in lift-
ing over 8000 gallons an hour at times. The cost of pumping
is largely offset by using the water drained from the mine for
washing the pulverized blue ground. By combining this sup-
ply with that obtained from surface reservoirs, enough water
was obtained for the use of the concentrating plants, except in
very dry seasons. For the Kimberley mine a Cornish pumping
plant of 400 horse-power, from designs by the late Mr. L. I.
SYSTEMATIC MINING 337
Seymour, was erected in 1891. This is a vertical triple-expan-
sion condensing engine, with cylinders 15^ inches, 23^ inches,
and 37 inches in diameter, and a stroke of 36 inches. The gears
for this engine were made by Fraser & Chalmers, of Chicago,
Illinois, and the crank shafts by Sir J. Whitworth, of Manches-
ter, England, but the main constructors were James Simpson
& Co. Ltd., of London. (See Appendix III.) With this
plant an average of over 12,000 gallons a day was readily
pumped from the mine in the first year after its erection,
and since then there has been no further difficulty in handling
the influx of water into the workings.
Compressed Air
For all underground service in the mines, in driving sinking
engines, mechanical haulages, rock drills, and any other machin-
ery where power is necessary, steam has been supplanted by
compressed air. Electricity has also been used for some of these
purposes, and is the cheaper and better power for many of the
uses for which steam and compressed air have been used.
Lighting
For lighting, the application of electricity has already proved
to be almost indispensable. All tunnels and ladderways through-
out the mines are lighted by electricity. In the stopes and other
working faces candles are used. Electric lights have been found
to be of the greatest assistance in enabling the men to get away
from rushes of mud. These occur at times when some of the
galleries are " hung up " (to use a miner's expression), which
means when the tops of some of the galleries are choked with
huge pieces of blue ground. The roof suddenly gives way from
the pressure of mud above, and all open lights, such as candles,
are put out by the force of the concussion of the air, and, were
it not for the electric lights, the tunnels in the vicinity of the
mud rush would be in total darkness.
338 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Other Electric Service
Electric bells are in use throughout the mines, and have
very greatly promoted the rapidity of hoisting through the
shafts. Owing to instantaneous communication between the
man in charge of loading the skips and the engine-driver, hun-
dreds of loads more are sent to the surface daily than could
be forwarded under the old " pull bell " system. For instant
additional communication between the surface and the under-
ground work telephones have been installed, and the same rapid
communication extends to the depositing floors, concentration
works, and offices of the company.
Natural Ventilation
The Kimberley mine is ventilated in a somewhat peculiar
manner. The rock shafts at both De Beers and Kimberley
mines are downcast, i.e., the air for ventilation goes down these
shafts, along the bottom tunnels and thence up through the
various levels, and it is fortunate for the men working in the
mine that it is so, for the cool air comes in at the bottom and
ventilates the mine much better than if the rock shaft drew the
heated air down through all the lower workings. The upcast
in Kimberley mine is through the Harvey shaft, the top of
which is 300 feet below the top of the rock shaft. This shaft,
with which the various levels of the mine are connected, extends
down to the I2oo-foot level, and a similar shaft or winze situated
near it extends from the I2oo-foot to the levels below. As the
top levels in the mine are the hottest, the current of air ascends
through the Harvey shaft. The usual direction of air currents
in mines with two shafts and natural ventilation is down the
shorter shaft and up the shaft the mouth of which is situated at
the greater height on the surface. The reverse is the case at
Kimberley mine. The quantity of air which passes down
De Beers rock shaft was 33,300 cubic feet per minute until
1898, when the enlargement of the upcast shaft was completed,
SYSTEMATIC MINING
339
and the air current was increased to 45,000 cubic feet per
minute. In the Kimberley mine the influx of air per minute
is 25,500 cubic feet.
Temperatures
At De Beers, with temperature of the air on the surface
79° F., the temperature ranges from 75° to 77° in the tunnels
leading to the mine on the 1000, 1200, and i4OO-foot levels.
The temperature of the air as it leaves the mine on the 8oo-foot
level is 84°. The temperature of the mud after a mud rush
was on one occasion 85° F. Temperatures at Kimberley mine
in the i2OO-foot tunnel were, for the air, 71°. 5; for the rock,
72°.! ; for the large spring of water 7 8°. 9 F. The quantity of
water flowing from this spring, which is about 600 feet from the
crater, is 3500 gallons an hour. The temperature in the work-
ing galleries on this level is 87°. Springs of water on the 1520
and 1 840-foot levels gave 83°. 8 and 8i0-9 respectively, the
water in the lower level being the cooler.
The Output of Blue Ground
The table of statistics (Appendix V) gives the amount of
blue ground produced from De Beers and Kimberley mines since
the formation of the De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited.
In the same table of statistics will be found the average cost
of production per load. It will be seen that the lowest cost was
for the year ending June 30, 1894, — 6s. 6.%d. per load. This
includes all charges from the mining of the ground to the
delivery of the diamonds to the valuators. All mine charges,
including shaft-sinking, tunnelling, etc., are charged to current
expenses. It is interesting to note in the same table the great-
est output of each mine through a single shaft for various
periods of time. The maximum amount of blue ground pro-
duced in one year was 1,746,240 loads from De Beers mine for
the year ending December 31, 1897. This ground was raised
from a depth of 1000 feet from the beginning of the year until
June 14, when winding commenced from the i2OO-foot level.
340 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
At Kimberley mine, the maximum output from one shaft was
1,600,422 loads for the year ending December 31, 1893, hoisted
from a depth of 1000 feet. These figures do not include the
waste or "reef" which is taken out, amounting to 100,651 loads
from De Beers mine and 64,799 loads from Kimberley mine
during the year.
During the month of November, 1898, 208,013 loads of
blue ground equal to 166,410 tons of 2000 pounds, were hoisted
through the two skip compartments of De Beers rock shaft and
from a depth of 1 200 feet. The winding stops from Saturday
night at eleven o'clock until Monday morning at six. The
average number of loads of blue ground hoisted per houi was 349.
The average daily output for a full day's work was 8376 loads,
and for Saturdays 5933. The best day's record was 9790 loads,
the best week's record was 50,450. In the above records no ac-
count has been taken of stoppages during working hours nor is
the quantity of waste, which was 11,992 loads during the month,
taken into account. Previous to this the best month's produc-
tion was from De Beers mine, in November, 1897, a total of
197,173 loads from the I2oo-foot level. In Kimberley mine,
the best records for a month were in November, 1893, when
157,847 loads were taken from the looo-foot level, working
three shifts of eight hours each per day, and 108,627 loads from
the i2OO-foot level in May, 1895, working twelve hours per day.
The best week's record from Kimberley mine, winding by
day only, was 27,418 loads in sixty-nine hours from the 1520-
foot level for the week ending September 22, 1897. No account
has been taken of any lost time.
From the above figures it will be observed that all records
have been broken for winding ground through a single shaft with
two skip compartments.
Labor and Plages
The following table shows the average number of men
employed in and about the mines worked by De Beers Consoli-
dated Mines Limited, during the year ending June 30, 1897 : —
SYSTEMATIC MINING
EMPLOYES
The average number of persons daily employed is as follows :-
DE BEERS.
KlMBERLEY.
PREMIER.
WORKSHOPS.
ON THE ESTATES
AND ELSEWHERE.
Whites.
Blacks.
Whites.
Blacks.
Whites
Blacks.
Whites.
Blacks.
Whites.
Blacks.
Above ground
Underground
477
212
1851
2001
I87
183
925
1322
46
105
423
489
388
211
28
118
TOTAL.
Above ground
Underground
Grand total .
Whites.
Blacks.
1126
500
3528
3812
1626
7340
The average number of white men employed has increased to over 2000 and the num-
ber of natives to over 11,000.
*
NATIONALITIES OF WHITE EMPLOYES
PERCENTAGES
IN AND ABOUT THE
MINES AND FLOORS.
AT THE WORKSHOPS.
1894.
1897.
1894.
1897.
"J2.2
46.;
AI.C
37.1
Scotch
6.2
7-2
23-3
2O.6
Irish
4.8
5-6
2.4
2.8
South Africans
33-i
36.8
27.1
33-3
European .......
1.8
*•$
4.2
4-7
Other Nations
1.9
2.4
1-5
i-5
IOO
IOO
IOO
IOO
WAGES
The following figures give about the average wages paid for various kinds of
labor at the mines : mechanics, ^5 to ^£7 per week ; miners, from ^5 to £6
per week ; guards and tallymen, from ^4 to ^5 per week ; engine-drivers, £6
to £7 per week ; natives in the underground works, from 3^. to $s. a day.
Overseers, from ^3 izs. to ^4 zs. ; machine men and assorters, from ^5
to -£6 ; natives (ordinary laborers), ijs. 6d. to 2is. per week; drivers, from
25-r. to 2js. 6d. per week. Every employe has a percentage on the value of
diamonds found by himself. On the floors the white employes receive is. 6d. and
the natives 3^. per carat. Nearly double these amounts are paid for stones found in
the mines.
342 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Dutoitspan and Bultfontein Mines
If operations were not pushed with the like energy and lib-
erality of outlay in Dutoitspan and Bultfontein mines, it was
simply because of sound economic considerations, and impedi-
ments unreasonably placed in the way of projected developments.
Heavy falls of reef had very greatly damaged the open work-
ings in Dutoitspan mine before it came into possession of the
Mount Ararat before Blasting. (Removal of a piece of " Floating Reef," Bultfontein Mine, 1901.
It was 150 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 120 feet high. 180 holes were drilled in it and charged
with 1050 pounds of No. i dynamite.)
De Beers Consolidated Mines. In spite of this obstacle, work
was carried on actively for a time, until it became certain that no
profit could be made by working this mine and the continuance
of operations would have caused great loss directly to the con-
trolling corporation. If diamonds were like gold and there was
an unlimited demand for the product, Dutoitspan mine would
assuredly have been worked as long as it paid expenses and the
barest margin of profit. But, seeing that the demand for dia-
SYSTEMATIC MINING 343
monds, or any other precious stones, is practically limited to the
amount marketable without breaking down the prices dis-
astrously to the producer as well as to every dealer and cutter,
work in Dutoitspan mine was suspended at the close of 1889.
The mine is still idle, but a large shaft was started in 1901 for
the purpose of working it at some future date.
Shots Fired.
Bultfontein mine might have proved more profitable, but in
1889 an immense fall of reef, covering nearly the whole bottom
of the mine, made open work impossible, except over a very small
area. In face of this situation shafts would have been started
and underground work on a systematic plan prosecuted, had it
not been for obstacles set in the way by the lessors, the London
and South African Exploration Company. It was not antici-
pated that there would be any profit in instituting these costly
344 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
underground works at that time, but the directors of De Beers
mines desired to furnish employment to miners out of work,
and the mine would have been opened and explored on a return
of bare expenses, if the lessors had seen fit to make reasonable
terms. As their demands were considered exorbitant, work in
this mine was also stopped in 1889, and was only commenced
A Second after Firing.
again in 1900. Plan on p. 333 shows how the mine is being
opened. There are nearly 13,000,000 loads of blue ground
in sight above the 6oo-foot level.
Premier Mine
In December, 1891, the farm, Benaauwdheidsfontein, adjoin-
ing Kimberley, and lying on the border line between Griqualand
West and the Orange Free State, was purchased in full by the De
MINKS <>K SOT : H AFRICA
tors of De Beers
; \>\ me':t miners out of work,
• opened a>>w explored on a return
-r» had *it to make reasonable
red exorbitant, work in
in iSSo, <»m; was only commenced
Premier Mine looking from Workings up through Incline where the Blue Ground
is hauled.
ho\v the mine is being
o io.uis of blue ground
Mtftf
Betuauwdheidsfontein, adjoin-
iinc between Griqualand
purchased in full by the De
^AUV*'
SYSTEMATIC MINING
345
Beers Consolidated Mines. On this property the Wesselton or
Premier mine, situate about four miles from the town of Kimber-
ley (plan at pages 316-317 gives its position relative to the other
mines), had been discovered in September, 1890, by a Dutchman,
Fabricius, who was prospecting for an old resident of the dia-
mond fields, Mr. Henry A. Ward, who had a bond on the Wes-
sels' estate, or an option to purchase the property for ^175,000
within a stated period of time. When a man has no money,
The Mine Filled with Smoke.
and Ward had little or none at that time, it matters very little
to him what amount he has to pay for such a property, for he
does not want the farm unless he finds a payable diamond mine,
and if he does find a mine, some one else supplies the funds. In
this case the mine was found, but it was one chance in a million.
Only a small portion of Wessels' farm was in the Cape Colony,
and it was upon this portion that the mine was discovered.
Scores of sanitary pits had been sunk within a stone's throw
of the mine before the prospector Fabricius sunk a hole at ran-
346 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
dom, without any apparent reason, through ten feet of limestone
and found yellow ground. It was soon noised about, and the
mine was rushed and jumped by a crowd from Kimberley and
Beaconsfield, consisting to a great extent of members of the
Knights of Labor. Hundreds of claims (30 feet by 30 feet)
were pegged off, and holes averaging 3 feet by 6 feet were sunk
all over the place, looking far more like open graves than pros-
pectors' shafts ; in fact, they proved to be the graves of the
After the Smoke has cleared away.
hopes of the reckless jumpers of private property. Many of
the holes were sunk outside of the area of the present mine.
Ward had the sole right of prospecting for minerals upon
this farm, which was held under his agreement with Wessels;
but for some time the jumpers held their ground regardless of
its legal ownership, and their contest was the more bumptious
from the fact that the mine was only a few hundred yards from
the boundary line between the Colony and the Free State.
Title to Wessels' farm was originally granted by the Free State.
SYSTEMATIC MINING 347
By the laws of this State all minerals belong to the owners of
the farms upon which they are found. In the settlement of the
boundary line between the Free State and Griqualand West it
was agreed that the farmers who had held titles to their farms
under the laws of the Free State should retain the right to any
minerals that might be found upon them. After months of
wrangling, Ward's claim was established beyond dispute. Ward
was without means to continue prospecting, and parted with half
his rights for ^£3,000. When the mine was discovered, De Beers
Consolidated Mines bought the interest which Ward had sold,
for which they paid ;£ 120,000. Ward disputed De Beers owner-
ship to an undivided one-half interest in the property. The
case came to trial in the Supreme Court of the Cape Colony,
the mine having been discovered in that part of the farm lying
within the Colony. Judgment was given in favor of De Beers,
and that Company became joint owner with Ward in the prop-
erty, now called the Premier Mine, named by Ward in honor of
Rhodes, who was at the time Premier of the Colony, and with
whom he had conducted most of the negotiation in relation to
the purchase of the mine and the final disposition of his interest.
In the meantime Ward had obtained an extension of his
option for an additional sum of ^£1 25,000. The directors of
De Beers mines were in no way consulted in this matter. The
time for taking up the option was drawing to a close, and as
Ward did not have the money to pay for his half, it was mutually
agreed that De Beers should pay the purchase price of ^300,000,
Ward becoming responsible for the repayment of his half.
After considerable negotiation Ward agreed to cede his interest
in the mine on the following conditions : that he should take
over the mine for a period of five years, during which time he
had the right to take out 5,000,000 loads, equal to 4,000,000
tons of diamond-bearing ground. Diamond-bearing and blue are
not synonymous terms here, for Ward took out yellow ground
to the depth of about 60 feet. The mine was surveyed as
accurately as possible. An allowance of 8 feet in depth was
made for the surface limestone which covered the mine and
Y>?
OF THE
UNIVERSITY
OF
ORNlfei
348 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
SYSTEMATIC MINING
349
which was supposed to be »0#-diamond-bearing. It was also
agreed that a load of ground in place should be 9.6 cubic feet,
but this was afterward increased to 10.6, as it was found that
9.6 cubic feet of yellow ground would not make a load when
broken. From the preliminary washing of ground taken from
various parts of the mine, it was estimated that the mine would
yield about 16 carats per hundred loads washed. Ward took
possession of the mine, and through contractors erected a
large washing plant capable of washing 4,000 to 5,000 loads
daily. During the five years Ward mined and washed the
5,000,000 loads to which he was entitled. The yield was about
20 carats per 100 loads by means of the first sortings, and pos-
sibly two or three carats more were obtained by subsequent sort-
ing, so that the total number of carats obtained reached about
1,100,000. As to the price realized for these diamonds and the
cost of producing them, I have no knowledge, but one may
assume that the average value of the diamonds was about i%s.
per carat, and that the cost of mining and washing did not
exceed is. 6d. per load, if it reached that figure. The first 60
feet were easily mined, as the ground was decomposed and could
be sent direct to the washing machines from the mine. At the
present time, under De Beers management, blue ground is mined
and deposited, harrowed and watered, and then loaded and sent
to the washing machines for a cost of about is. id. a load.
From the year 1871, when the four mines at Kimberley
and the Jagersfontein mine were discovered, a period of twenty-
one years elapsed during which no paying diamond mine was
found, although continuous prospecting was carried on. The
Premier mine was covered for an average depth of eight
feet with lime, which for the most part was diamond-bearing.
The formation of the lime seems to have been the result of the
evaporation of water highly impregnated with lime, or possibly
springs existed in the localities, whose waters were highly impreg-
nated with carbonate of lime, which was deposited by the evapo-
ration of the water. Water, in many of the lime-covered dis-
tricts, is found very near the surface. On the Wesselton estate
350 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
SYSTEMATIC MINING
352 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
it shows itself in numerous " fonteins " or springs. Below the
lime coverlet the diamond-bearing yellow ground extended to a
depth of sixty feet, where it changed to blue ground. The
work which had been done proved the area of the mine, and it
was found to contain about 1162 claims of diamond-bearing
ground, equal to about 24 acres.
Under Ward's administration the diamond-bearing ground
was removed by means of trucks drawn by an endless chain
haulage, which delivered them at the top of a large washing
plant, where it was at once treated.
In January, 1896, Ward's lease expired, and from that time
work in this mine has been constantly carried on by the
De Beers Consolidated Mines. An incline with a grade of one
foot in five was constructed in 1896; the drainage water from
all parts of the mine was concentrated in a sump, and a pump-
ing plant erected capable of handling the great influx of water,
averaging 42,726 gallons an hour in 1896, or about 7,178,000
gallons a week. At the end of that year the new works were
so far advanced that 271,777 loads of blue ground had been
raised. For the economic working of this mine, a complete
mining and washing plant, with compounds, machine shops,
stores, and other necessary buildings, was installed soon after
the mine was turned over to the Company by the lessee.
The incline mentioned above was made through the marginal
reef, and down to a depth of 185 feet. At present the diamond-
bearing blue ground is hauled from the mine by means of an
endless wire rope haulage (see illustration opposite) driven by an
engine on the surface. The mine is being worked in sections of
50 feet in depth. The ground is broken by drilling deep holes
(12 feet) with jumper drills and blasting with dynamite. The
average number of loads broken per case of dynamite (50 Ibs.
net) is 416, equal to 333 tons. The breaking of the ground
was formerly done by contract, and cost $^d. per load delivered
upon the " flat-sheets " near the mine end of the wire rope
haulage. This mining is now done by the Company. Loading
is done in the mine upon the contract system, by paying the
bn
ori2
fMf- DIAMOND MlNfc' Of SOl'TH 'RICA
'.;>ws if^eif in numtff*. f' 'i^ins" or sp ngs. Beiow the
,:;ie goverlct rhc d -t-n - LIU; yello-A g-,und extended to a
>,,,t;. ((f i; changed blue ground. The
wh \ -, .: /afe proved the an-a of the mine, and it
about 1162 chirn- of diamond-bearing
..4 acres.
...T.'tiiistrarion rhc diamond-bearing ground
, of f'icks drawn by an endless chain
. --iod rhe'n ai the top of a large washing
! 1 .; . Ward's k.ise expired, and from that time
Has beer, constantly carried on by the
,! Minos. An incline with a grade of one
structed in 1896; the drainage water from
. ntrned in a sump, and a pump-
PREMIER MINE.,
Showing Mine being worked in the Open. The water on the right, represents
about one million gallons daily, which finds, its way into, the mine, iand,.haswere
to be pumped out.
r!,.it loal-- 'ilue ground had been
tu>!v: -soikintj o! ihi«= nune, a complete
'..uhme shops,
.rs, U»K -niied soon after
. .1 o\-e r •> th-. ( o'^'panv bv the lessee.
;nade tKiough the marginal
At present the diamond-
: in • - Hie irnne by means of an
; opposite} driven by an
i ..-.n ij, worked in sections of
•i;u!U' jri bv drilling deep holes
:-s A::- i wit! * dynamite. The
• ,kci r ca->e of dynamite (50 Ibs.
i>reakii;g of the ground
-,,!;!• -.: s'.!,/. |ier load delivered
r 'nine end ->f the wire rope
- }>\- rh«:. Company. Loading
contract svstem, by paying the
x- '^ y$ 1^ A.
/ A )F THE
';' UNIVERSITY
SYSTEMATIC MINING
353
Premier Mine, looking up the Incline.
natives i$s. for 100 loads. The cost of hauling and depositing
is about 6d. per load. In open mining the natives are paid i$s.
per 100 loads (80 tons) for loading and delivering to a flat-
sheet from 100 to 150 feet from the place of loading. On
the floors, after the ground is pulverized, us. per 100 loads is
paid for reloading. The ground is treated in the same manner
as at De Beers and Kimberley mines, which will be described in
the following chapter.
There is a large body of floating reef in the mine, which
measured about 350 feet by 200 feet on the surface, but, at the
depth of 500 feet, it has been nearly displaced by diamond-bearing
ground. As already mentioned, these large blocks of floating
reef are portions of the country rock which have broken loose
354 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
during the time the craters were being filled, and were not
incorporated in the breccia of which the blue ground is com-
posed. In some instances the " floating reef," or " islands," is
One of the Early Washing Machines.
the same as the amygdaloid rock or melaphyre, which surrounds
the mines at a depth varying from 300 to 400 feet, but, as a rule,
somewhat altered. It will be noticed that the aerial gear is not
used at the Premier mine, and the reason is that for shallow
depths, or for depths down to 200 feet, inclines, either open cuts
SYSTEMATIC MINING
355
or shafts inclined to as great an angle as it is practicable for a
wire rope haulage to work, are more economical.
Up to the present time the difficulties of falling reefs, which
caused so much trouble in the other mines, have not yet arisen.
A belt of blue ground some seventy feet in thickness has been
left standing in places to support the friable decomposed basalt
and shale with which the mine is surrounded. This is but a
temporary remedy, and one which does not recommend itself to
Washing Plant, Standard Company, Kimberley Mine, 1888.
the engineer, owing to the value of the ground which is being
temporarily sacrificed. It is my intention to combine the open
with the underground system, and to remove the blue ground
which lies adjacent to the reef in the same manner as it is now
done in De Beers and Kimberley mines, and at the same time
to work the remaining portion of the mine in the open, as at
present, so long as open mining can be safely and economically
carried on. Owing to the enormous flow of water from the reef
into the mine (the blue ground itself contains no water), it will
be necessary to sink a shaft, and to drive tunnels to tap these
large springs, and lead the water away from the mine. The
356 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
SYSTEMATIC MINING
357
average quantity of water pumped from the mine is about
40,000 gallons per hour, or more than three times the quantity
which is pumped from De Beers and Kimberley mines com-
bined. In order to make use of this water, it is pumped to
De Beers floors for washing the blue ground, and to the village
of Kenilworth for irrigation purposes.
The average yield of diamonds for several years past under
De Beers management has been three-tenths of a carat per load.
No. 2 Washing Plant, De Beers Floors.
The value of the Premier mine diamonds as compared with
those from De Beers and Kimberley mines is about twenty per
cent less, owing to the greater proportion of boart and small
diamonds. The diamonds from this mine show distinctive char-
acteristics, and a parcel of them can be easily distinguished from
those produced from other mines. It is estimated that the
production of this mine could be raised to 1,000,000 carats
per annum. The mine is being developed for the commence-
ment of underground mining. Plan on page 318 shows the
shape and size of the mine on the 5OO-foot level. It is
estimated that there are 13,000,000 loads, equal to 10,400,-
ooo tons, of blue ground in sight above this level. The
Premier mine may, therefore, be looked upon as a mine of
very great value, and one which will play an important part in
the future history of the diamond-mining industry.
358 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
Jagersfontein
Mention has been made previously of the Jagersfontein
mine. It was the first of the so-called " dry mines " discov-
ered. The mine is very large, containing 1124 claims. The
average yield of the ground is about eleven carats per one hun-
dred loads. The quality of the diamonds far surpasses the
yield of any other crater. The mine is noted for its large blue-
white diamonds, and, now and again, an exceptionally large stone
is found. One stone cut as a brilliant weighs 239 carats and is
without a flaw.
Two full-size reproductions are here given of the largest dia-
mond found in the mine, its weight being 971 carats. For
many years after their
discovery, the richer
mines of Kimberley
offered greater induce-
ments to the digger as
well as to the investor,
but the fever for con-
solidation attacked the
directors of some of the
principal companies in
this mine, and the New
Jagersfontein Mining
and Exploration Com-
pany Limited was
incorporated in 1888,
about the same time
as De Beers, and the
various interests were
gradually absorbed.
The mine is still worked in the open, and during the last few
years has had some difficulty with falls of reef.1 The reef, from
the surface down to the depth of about twenty feet, is shale.
1 See Appendix VI.
Excelsior Diamond, 971 Carats. (Found in Jagersfontein
Mine. Actual Size.)
BLUE-ANO_-
-r.YEL.LOW -_/
"GROUl:
PLAN AND SECTION
OF
JAGERSFONTEIN MINE.
SCALE -&M
SYSTEMATIC MINING
359
The rock underlying the shale is basalt, which extends down to
the lowest point where the country rock has been exposed,
i.e. about 250 feet.
A table of statistics showing the amount of blue ground
hauled and washed and tfre quantity and value of diamonds
produced since the formation of the Company will be found
under Appendix VI. This mine was shut down from Decem-
ber, 1900, to July, 1902, owing to the war. During this period
the mine became flooded, and the water was not all removed
until the end of 1902.
The plan and section of the mine are given opposite this
page.
Another View of the Excelsior Diamond.
OF THE
UNIVERSITY
OF
YD
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